RESOURCE WARS IN THE LAKE DISTRICT. The ridge dividing the Lake Michigan watershed from the Fox River basin, connected to the Mississippi River, is in some places within sight of Lake Michigan. By international treaty, water taken out of Lake Michigan must be returned to Lake Michigan. That treaty requires water-hungry suburbs of Milwaukee and Chicago to return any Lake Michigan water to Lake Michigan.

The Lake Beulah water management district has recently passed a law inspired by that treaty, to prevent the rapidly-growing Municipality of East Troy from tapping an aquifer that might feed Lake Beulah.

The new ordinance also says that water pumped out of the basin, above or below ground, must be returned to the basin, a directive that reflects a hotly debated issue in Waukesha's attempt to divert water from Lake Michigan.

At the moment, the disputes and debates are in public hearings and in courts. The Winchesters have not yet been broken out.