VALPARAISO | Members of the League of Women Voters listened to a guest speaker on a freezing Saturday morning talk about the variety of threats Lake Michigan faces.

Jeanette Neagu, co-president of the Lake Michigan Interleague Organization, which is part of the league, presented slides and facts about legislation, economics and the health of the Great Lakes Basin.

"I'm a passionate lover of our Great Lakes, and whenever I see people coming out early in the morning in zero-degree weather, I realize I'm not alone in my love," Neagu said.

The organization educates people on the problems facing the Great Lakes, encourages public participation and supports scientific research and shoreline management.

"We believe that national resources should be managed as interrelated parts of life-supporting ecosystems," Neagu said.

The Great Lakes comprise 20 percent of the world's freshwater supply, she said.

"But the Great Lakes are a nonrenewable resource. You can't just drain it indefinitely," Neagu said. "They were formed by our glaciers, and you have to think in terms of future generations. We don't have a right to steal such a treasure."

Among the threats to the Great Lakes are new export and diversion schemes, such as shipping Great Lakes water to other countries and bottling water, as well as building pipelines to the South and Southwest and refilling the Ogallala Aquifer, she said. The Ogallala Aquifer extends northward from western Texas to South Dakota.

Other threats include toxic pesticides, invasive species that ballast water from the shipping industry brings, raw sewage and wetland losses.

"We're not against industry, because we know jobs are hard here, but the (Environmental Protection Agency) needs to look at all of the permits given when they consider a single permit. Consider the cumulative impact of every permit," Neagu said.

She compared the current permits for companies such as U.S. Steel and BP Amoco in the region to swimming pool instructions that allow users to add one gallon of chlorine each -- but with 100 people adding that amount, the pool becomes toxic, she said.

She encouraged members and the public to join her in Washington, D.C., for Great Lakes Day 2008 on Feb. 27 to 28, sponsored by Healing Our Waters, another protection group.

Participants will receive a scholarship of $225 to defray travel costs and meet to discuss the importance of restoring and protecting the Great Lakes with elected officials on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit www.healthylakes.org.