Analysis Paper 1- The Politics of Water

The Milwaukee Magazine published a political article titled the “Politics of Water” on March 3, 2008. Barbara Miner, the author of this article, reviewed the Great Lakes in the Midwest of the United States by explaining a little history about the lakes, illustrating a disaster scenario, and mentioning how the lakes can shape the future of the United States and the world. Therefore, this article is a chronological piece that describes the past and the present.
Miner started the article by describing some U.S. history of the Great Lakes dating back to the late 1800s. She describes how Waukesha which is also called Spring City played a huge role with the Great Lakes because it has sweet- tasting spring water that many tourists all over the nation would come to taste and drink it. Basically, Miner is describing how this city is a tourist attraction just because of the spring water.
Another part of the history Miner used was the year 1965, which is the year when the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers studied the water of the Great Lakes to relieve droughts in the Northeast. In 1981, the U.S. government paid 2.2 billion dollars for a pipeline from Wyoming to the Great Lakes designed to carry coal slurry. These two dates show how the U.S. government is trying to preserve fresh water for the future.
Miner illustrates a disaster scenario of the Great Lakes by using the Aral Sea as an example. The Aral Sea is part of Russia which has been polluted for many years and over that time, the seas began to drought. The reason Miner used the Aral Sea as an example of the Great Lakes is that it used to be the fourth largest lake in the world.
She also discussed global warming as a disaster scenario because it is changing the world’s climate rapidly. With global warming rising at an alarming rate, the salt waters will expand because the glaciers are absorbing and holding the fresh water hostage which is a valuable resource for the United States and the world. Therefore, Miner shows how global warming can have a bad affect on the Great Lakes.
Finally, Barbara Miner goes into detail about the Great Lakes and discusses methods that can be used to shape the future of the United States. She explains how important the lakes are because they provide a fresh water supply for the Midwest and they are part of a tourist attraction. Miner explains that the fresh water supply shapes the economy of the Midwest in the U.S. by being a useful resource for farmers to plant the crops such as corn and soy beans. It also allows tourists to explore the different sites by boat and travel to different states by going across the lakes instead of taking an airplane or driving long miles across state borders. These examples show how Miner is illustrating the importance of the lakes in the United States.
Also, Miner illustrates how the Great Lakes are being referred to as a resource for the nation. She states that the water of the Great Lakes will be the new oil in the future, and she gained this information from water experts who stated this as a prediction. A method Miner would probably use would be where car dealerships are switching from gasoline and oil to water. Basically, dealerships can provide cars and trucks that get better mileages without the use of oil and gas as a necessity which will put oil and gas companies possibly out of business. Therefore, oil and gasoline will become obsolete in the future when humans will figure out how to run cars on water.
Another thing that Miner discusses about the Great Lakes that can shape the future of the United States is that the U.S. government is trying to establish a long term water supply by 2010. In other words, the government is trying to maintain a consistent water supply for every person in the United States by trying to prevent droughts from occurring in the Midwest and in the Gulf Coast. Also, the government is trying to bring global warming to a halt by trying to quarantine pollution from factories. Miner illustrates how Congress is trying to establish some new federal laws that will regulate the water of the Great Lakes because the lakes are starting to lack amounts of fresh water for the people due to drought and global warming. Therefore, this information she used illustrates how the Great Lakes are being regulated by the U.S. government.
Ms. Miner states that Waukesha is the villain of the Great Lakes for two reasons. One reason is that the city of Waukesha has hotels for travelers that can find a place to stay for a couple of days or weeks which allows the people to tour the city rather than the Great Lakes. Basically, Miner is saying that the city is becoming a tourist attraction which is taking a lot of water supply from the lakes. This reason shows how Waukesha is affecting the Great Lakes.
The final reason why Waukesha is a villain to the Great Lakes is that the city has major sites for tourists to visit. These sites are making tourists stay in Waukesha longer than normal because they are taking a huge amount of water supply from the lakes for the city’s water parks, restaurants, and buffets. Basically, entertainment parks and food businesses are using large amounts of fresh water to make tourists feel welcomed to the city and providing good water for hungry people. Therefore, the city is a huge tourist attraction that uses a lot of fresh water from the Great Lakes that some people would state that the city is a villain to the lakes.
This writer thinks that Miner’s writing is well written for a few reasons. One reason is that she explained the history of the Great Lakes and how they affected the United States. Another reason is that the use of fresh water not only has a national effect, but an international effect that can put oil companies out of business by using water as a resource for an alternative fuel for vehicles. The final reason is that Miner uses suggested solutions for the Great Lakes to prevent droughts in the near future. These reasons show why this writer understands why Miner did a chronological piece to make a report for a magazine.
Therefore, this article is presented in a timeline so that Miner could explain to readers how the Great Lakes have a big affect on the United States and how they are important to people and the future because of the fresh water the lakes provide.