Recent Event Highlights: Canadian government proposes legislation to prevent diversion of rivers, Sitka Economic Development Association receives letter from Aqueous International, Sitka Economic Development association receives letter regarding bulk water export, Alaska Resource Management forms, Sitka enters into agreement with True Alaska Bottling, Quest Imports contract expires, and 5 more...
Created by seela on May 28, 2010
Last updated: 06/01/10 at 12:54 PM
Canadian government proposes legislation to plug gaps in national law to prevent the diversion of rivers that cross the U.S.-Canadian border
Sitka Economic Development Association receives a letter of interest from Aqueous International, a company looking for a bulk water contract to export to Asian markets
Sitka assembly gives Alaska Resource Management a second extension to move a minimum volume of water from Blue Lake as stipulated in its contract. The assembly increases the volume from 20 million to 50 million gallons within 12 months.
Sitka Economic Development Association receives a letter of interest from American Water Company regarding the export of bulk water
Great Lakes Compact becomes law. The compact prohibits, with some exceptions, water diversions outside the basin
Alaska Resource Management forms as a partnership between True Alaska Bottling and S2C Global Systems
Sitka enters into agreement with True Alaska Bottling to export up to 2.9 billion gallons per year
Sitka’s contract with Quest Imports expires without any water being exported
Sitka assembly grants a one-year extension to Quest Imports for moving a minimum 40 million gallons per year.
Sitka assembly signs an agreement with Quest Imports International to export up to 12.5 million gallons per day from Blue Lake reservoir
Canada and the U.S. amend the Boundary Waters Treaty to prohibit bulk export from water bodies forming the border between the countries.
Sun Belt Water files a complaint against Canada under NAFTA Chapter 11, claiming the British Columbian government illegally denied the company a water export permit. The complaint has not been acted on
Sitka acquires the Sawmill Cove industrial site and rights to 16 billion gallons of water annually from Blue Lake reservoir
Canada’s federal government proposes national ban on bulk water removals, but no all the provinces agree; however, each province individually has legal restrictions on bulk water removals
Ontario government revokes the permit issued to Nova Group after public furor
Nova Group gets permit from the Ontario government to export 158 million gallons per year from Lake Superior
North American Free Trade Agreement signed by Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The agreement includes the much-debate Chapter 11 provision that “Unless water, in any form, has entered into commerce and become a good or product, it is not covered by the provisions of any trade agreement including the NAFTA. And nothing in the NAFTA would oblige any NAFTA Party to either exploit its water for commercial use, or to begin exporting water in any form”
Flow Inc. signs a contract with Charleston, South Carolina’s Department of Public Works (now Charleston Water Systems) for rights to water from the city’s Bushy Park reservoir. To this day, no water has been exported.
British Columbia institutes a temporary ban on bulk water exports, a ban that became permanent in 1995.
Sun Belt Water signs first contract for delivery of bulk water via marine transport. The company would have exported water from British Columbia to Goleta Water District in California.
The government of British Columbia gives bulk water export licenses to six Canadian companies

