# Water from the Great Lakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146 "2010-06-06T05:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146/181 "2010-07-26T03:30:22Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Have any of you ever seen the water in the Great Lakes? What makes you think it’s suitable for drinking? Those of us who live around the great lakes don’t drink that water. Hey, we stock up on _SWILL™_, the bottled water straight from Lake Eire! But, seriously, folks, I did have some tasty tap water from Well Twelve in South Central Wisconsin at a party last night. Yes, the host was proud of how good it tasted and knew which well it was from, and what the mineral content was like (a little high on the manganese, but not enough to worry about). There is NO way I’m going to share _Tap Water This Tasty!_ with a buncha snowbirds who done schlepped off to Arid-zona. ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146/182 "2010-07-26T04:58:06Z")
Unless I’m mistaken, the Earth is a closed system, so the only argument is who gets the resources. Thus, wars. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146/183 "2010-07-26T04:59:22Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Hey, we stock up on _SWILL™_, the bottled water straight from Lake Eire! Reminds me of a joke we used to tell when I was in elementary school in Toronto: “Hey, you remind me of a Great Lake.” “You must mean Superior.” “No, I mean Eerie.” Ba-dum-bum! Note that sometimes, the answer was Lake Urine [Huron]. Hey, we were ten years old; this was the height of risque humour. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146/184 "2010-07-27T03:21:12Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > To those wanting to import Great Lakes water, know this: I’ve peed in it. Repeatedly. For over half a century. My wife and I did that downstream in Lake Ontario, after being stuck in Toronto traffic for an hour and taking an exit that didn’t go to a commercial area, but to a lakeside apartment complex. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146/185 "2010-07-27T09:26:57Z")
A bit under 100,000 tonnes of Kanukistani waste squirts into the Great Lakes each year. [http://www.ec.gc.ca/environmentandresources/cesifull2006/images/fig12\_BG\_e.jpg](http://www.ec.gc.ca/environmentandresources/cesifull2006/images/fig12_BG_e.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146/186 "2010-07-27T16:38:55Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > > To those wanting to import Great Lakes water, know this: I’ve peed in it. Repeatedly. For over half a century. > > My wife and I did that downstream in Lake Ontario, after being stuck in Toronto traffic for an hour and taking an exit that didn’t go to a commercial area, but to a lakeside apartment complex. I remember that day! I recently spent twelve hours on a bus to make it back to the little town where I’d had that suspiciously deliciously tangy glass of tap water, only to be informed that, sorry, that was only a one-day phenomenon. So, where you folks traveling this summer? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-from-the-great-lakes/542146.md?page=9)