This title discusses the battle to protect the largest reservoir of fresh water on earth. The Great Lakes are the largest collection of fresh surface water on earth, and more than 40 million Americans and Canadians live in their basin. Will North Americans divert water from the Great Lakes, causing them to end up like Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has lost 90 per cent of its surface area and 75 per cent of its volume since 1960? Or will they come to see that unregulated water withdrawals are ultimately catastrophic? Peter Annin writes a fast-paced account of the people and stories behind the upcoming battles over water rights. Destined to be the definitive story for the general public as well as policy-makers, "The Great Lakes Water Wars" is a balanced, comprehensive look behind the scenes at the conflicts and compromises that are the past - and future - of this unique resource.