The House has blocked diverting any new water from the Great Lakes and forces bordering states to adhere to new conservation standards.

In a 390-25 vote, the House approved a measure on Tuesday that will increase protection of the Great Lakes region. It will prohibit any new diversions of the water to other places, and require states that border the lakes to adhere to new conservation standards.

Together, the five Great Lakes account for 20 percent of the world’s supply of fresh surface water.

Known as the Great Lakes Compact, it was a decade in the making and focuses on longstanding fears that water-starved states or even other countries could tap into the lakes, deplete them, and do long-term damage to the basin’s natural environment and economy. The compact has already been passed by the Senate and is headed now to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign it into law.

“Keeping the water in the basin is critical,” said Christy Leavitt, a clean-water advocate at Environment America, a coalition of state groups. “But so is requiring all the Great Lakes states to develop conservation and efficiency programs. There is tremendous opportunity in efficiency to save water and the compact will help us reach the potential that’s out there.”

Before it reached Congress, the states bordering the lakes had to approve the compact, agreeing to certain common goals. The last state to approve, Michigan, did so only in July, following Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

“It shows that our national leaders understand that conserving water is vital for the economy,” said Cameron Davis, the chief executive of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “It signals to the rest of the would that water, the oil of the century, is a global imperative.”

The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, which also border the lakes, have adopted a nearly identical document.

Under the measure, water generally would not be allowed to be diverted from the basin except under rare circumstances. In addition to a bottled-water exemption, an exception has been made for so-called straddling communities that lie on the basin’s borders, among other negotiated concessions based largely on whether diverted water could be restored to the lakes.

Image source: Odalaigh on Flickr