MILWAUKEE (AP) - There was no mistaking the message speakers gave an international commission Sunday on whether to consider exporting Great Lakes water.

"The message is, "Water is not for sale,"' said Siegfried Kleinau of Lion's Head, Ontario.  "Water is a common good. Let's not make it a commodity."

The hearing was the first of 12 scheduled around the basin to solicit public comment on an interim report by the International Joint Commission on the protection of Great Lakes waters.

The U.S.-Canadian panel, which advises the two governments on Great Lakes issues, recommended a six-month moratorium on bulk diversions of surface or ground water from the basin until it completes its investigation at the end of February.

The report is in response to requests from both countries for an analysis of existing and potential uses, diversions and exports of Great Lakes waters after Canada last year gave an Ontario company a five-year permit to ferry 159 million gallons of Lake Superior water to  Asia annually.

The permit ultimately was withdrawn by Canada.

In its interim report, the IJC found little reason to believe that in the foreseeable future, outside investors will find it feasible to divert water from the Great Lakes.

But the commission also stressed its uncertainty about the effects of increasing stresses on the Great Lakes system, determining that there should be a bias for keeping water in the basin and using it more efficiently.

Seventeen people who made statements at Sunday's hearing agreed for the most part that Great Lakes water should stay where it is.

Jennifer Mahan of Chequamegon said shipping water outside the Great Lakes watershed only would shift the growing global problem of water scarcity.

"It's clear from this that nobody wants this to happen.  People who want the resources of the Great Lakes region should live within this bio-region," she said.  "We should not be responsible for providing resources to other areas that do not sustainably use their resources.'

Elaine Marsh, representing Ohio Greenways, said the IJC should stand firmly behind its scientific findings that major diversions from the basin would upset the lakes' delicate ecology.

"Time after time we have been victims of economic arrogance of profit-seekers, and what we end up with is degraded resources," she said.  "We have that sound science, and you've helped us create it.  Let's have a little environmental arrogance."

George Kuper, president of the Council of Great Lakes Industry, also argued against exporting Great Lakes water.

"Industry, just like individuals, is highly dependent upon the water and has invested heavily in improving water quality," he said.