For now, Ohio has no cap on how much water businesses can take from Lake Erie and its tributaries. That’s something lawmakers must change. The Great Lakes Compact requires Ohio and seven other states to adopt rules to manage water usage for the Great Lakes Basin.

Republican in Ohio’s Legislature approved new rules last year. But other states, environmentalists and even two of Ohio’s former GOP governors protested that the rules were far too loose and violated the compact. And Gov. John Kasich vetoed the bill.

This time around lawmakers halved the amount of water a business can take from the Lake Erie Basin without a permit. Industries and other users looking to take more than 2.5 million gallons per day from Lake Erie must get a permit. The cap on withdrawals from  the lake’s tributaries is set at one million gallons -- with limits at one-tenth that amount for “high quality” waterways.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes says the changes are good ones that restore the basics of the compact. But President Joel Brammeier says more must be done.

Brammeier: “It’s still not clear exactly how protected the tributaries of Lake Erie are going to be. That is really the source of the health of the lake, and if that flow gets interrupted, then you could see some significant impacts on the lake itself.”

Brammeier also says the time period used to calculate average daily withdrawals should be shortened to 30 days instead of 90. He says large withdrawals—for example during spawning season—could still hurt the lake, even if it’s only for a few days.

And he says the bill ignores citizen oversight. Only businesses could appeal permit decisions.

Brammeier: “The compact is written to ensure that people can appeal decisions that they are concerned about, that have caused a problem to their own property, but also that have caused problems to the Great Lakes at large. And we’re hopeful that this bill can preserve the rights of citizens to speak up on behalf of Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes.”

Businesses also have the advantage on the advisory council that will determine, for example, regulations for when too much water is drawn from the waterways. State Representative Dennis Murray of Sandusky sits on the Agriculture and Natural Resources committee.

Murray: “The problem with the advisory council as it’s been put together is it’s weighted five-to-two in favor of industry. We need to have more environmentalists at the table. We need to have sportsmen and other people in tourism who are all impacted by withdrawals from the Great Lakes.”

Gov. Kasich has not yet publicly endorsed the new legislation.