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There are actually extremely specific and intense rules about which parts of the country can take water from the great lakes and what burdens they incur when they do.

It's not necessarily aligned with any specific jurisdictions either, I believe it's largely based on the boundaries of the watersheds. Or at least where the boundary was ascertained to be at some point.

So yes it's very different, regardless of the semantics(?).

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The idea that the Great Lakes are going to be tapped to solve water problems outside the watershed is fall flat when they realize those Great Lakes states aren't going to sell off access like that.

I remember some moonshot proposal to pipe the water to the Southwest, which is wild.

There might be redirecting (or excessive drawing) of tributaries though.

It's surprising, actually, how small the Great Lakes watershed is, compared to the surface area of the lakes. You really aren't going to get much of anything from tributaries; if you want some of the water you draw it from the lakes.

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