Ohio Water Compact Amendment, Issue 3 (2008)

The Ohio Water Compact Amendment, Issue 3 was a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment that was proposed alongside the Great Lakes Water Compact, which was passed by the legislature in June 2008. The goal of the amendment is to protect landowners' right to the "reasonable use" of water on or running under their property. The measure appeared as a statewide ballot proposition on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Ohio.'

Election results

Issue 3 (2008)
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		3,485,895	71.94%
No		1,359,657	28.06%

Election results via: Ohio Secretary of State 2008 Election Results

The Water Compact

Ohio is the seventh state whose legislatures have voted to ratify the landmark agreement designed, in cooperation with the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, to dramatically reduce the chances that the lakes' water could be diverted in the future to thirstier regions of the nation or globe.

The compact will take effect regardless of what voters decide on the amendment on November 4.

Specific provisions

The amendment enacted the following provisions:

• Formalizes in the Ohio Constitution the right of property owners to groundwater on their land.
• Says that property owners have a property interest in the groundwater and non-navigable waters located on or flowing through their land.
• Says that water "cannot be held in trust by any governmental body".

Support

Sen. Tim Grendell, a Cleveland-area Republican, sponsored the push in the Ohio State Legislature to place the measure on the ballot. He believes that unless approved, the Great Lakes Water Compact would have trampled private property rights by designating groundwater as publicly owned. During debate on whether to put Issue 3 on the ballot, Grendell said, "I fear that if adopted as it [the 7-state Great Lakes Compact] stands today, ownership of waters within the Great Lakes Basin, including tributaries, wells and groundwater, would be in dispute and ultimately left up to costly litigation and the whims of a federal judge in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, individual property owners would have little recourse."

Democratic Governor Ted Strickland endorsed Issue 3 on October 21, 2008.

Opposition

House Democratic Leader Rep. Joyce Beatty of Columbus led the move against adoption of the ballot issue resolution. She said she wasn't certain the property-rights protections belonged in the constitution, where passage by voters would place it, and that Grendell was trying to strong-arm lawmakers.

It was Senate vs. House on this issue. In general, the opposing Democrats gave the Republicans a long and hard fight. Republicans refused to give the "ok" on the Water Compact until an agreement was reached on the constitutional amendment. In early June, a compromise was finally reached and the amendment was approved. Once the House took that action, the Senate swiftly and unanimously passed the compact.

Other opponents included The League of Women Voters of Ohio and the Ohio League of Conservation Voters.

See also

• Endorsements of Ohio ballot measures
• List of Ohio ballot measures
• 2008 ballot measures

External links

• More information, plus arguments for and against this measure from The Ohio Ballot Board
• ToledoBlade.com: "Ohio Assembly sends measure to governor", The Toledo Blade, June 11, 2008
• Cleveland.com: "Ohio House Democrats look to tweak proposed constitutional amendment", The Plain Dealer, June 7, 2008
• "Ohio governor signs Great Lakes agreement", StarTribune.com, June 27, 2008
• Columbus Business First: "Great Lakes water rights spill into vote", September 5, 2008
• Ohio Issue 3 is compromise that helped passage of Great Lakes compromise

Additional reading

• The bottom line on state issues 1-3
• Voters, don't let issues 1 and 3 go unnoticed