River flowing into Lake Superior. Photo: Dave Hensen. Click to enlarge.
At the heart of North America, the Great Lakes region is an area where 40 million people, including 30 per cent of all Canadians, live, work, and play. Stretching across an expanse of 766 000 km2, the Great Lakes basin is bigger than any of Canada's three Prairie Provinces. The five lakes-Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario – hold one-fifth of the globe's fresh surface water and support over 50 per cent of Canada's manufacturing output. With the health, quality of life, and prosperity of so many people depending on the Great Lakes, they are a resource too precious to lose.
Today there is a growing appreciation of the Great Lakes' value and the need to be responsible environmental stewards. However, this was not always the case and since the beginning of European settlement on the Great Lakes, this critical life support system has been used as a sink for disposing wastes of every kind.
You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed! No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed. So I'm sending them off. Oh, their future is dreary. They'll walk on their fins and get woefully weary in search of some water that isn't so smeary. I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie. Dr. Seuss, The Forax, 1971
During the 1960s, attention turned to the health of the Lakes after it was discovered that eutrophication – the acceleration of a lake's ageing process due to an increase of nutrients – had advanced significantly in Lake Erie. This was the result of both phosphate-based detergent and sewage getting into the lake, and led to the media's description of Erie as a "dead" lake. Problems continued as high mercury levels shut down commercial fishing and in 1969 the oily surface of the Cuyahoga River, which drains into Erie, caught fire in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
International Co-operation
Pollution on waterfront of Lake Huron. Photo: C. Swinehart. Click to enlarge.
Pollution protection of the Great Lakes quickly took on a sense of urgency leading Canada and the United States to sign the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) in 1972. For the first time the two countries had agreed to work together to regulate, control, and reduce water pollution in the Great Lakes.
It's important that the Agreement's goals continue to reflect the Great Lakes' environmental needs and, since the original signing, the pact has been updated twice – in 1978 and 1987 – to meet new challenges, such as chemical contamination. In its present form, the Agreement reflects a commitment by each country to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. It also now recognizes the important interaction between air, land, water and living organisms, including humans, within the basin.
The overall success of the GLWQA has shown what can happen when two countries co-operate to improve and protect an ecosystem. One of the Agreement's major achievements was the development of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (GLBTS) in 1997, which aims to eliminate toxic substances generated by human activity from the Great Lakes basin. Based on emissions data from the late 1980s the GLBTS now boasts an 88 per cent reduction of high-level PCB waste in storage in Ontario, as well as 85 per cent of mercury releases and 84 per cent of dioxins and furans.
Fast Facts
The Great Lakes hold 1/5 of the earth's fresh surface water.
Forty million people live in the Great Lakes region.
Canada and the United States first signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972.
Since 1997 the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy has reduced some of the most harmful substances by 84-88 per cent.
Public meetings on the Agreement will take place this fall 2005 in 14 Canadian and U.S. cities.
Another positive result of the Agreement is the commitment by both governments to restore environmental quality to Great Lakes' "Areas of Concern." Since 1990, the Government of Canada has funded over 700 projects through various programs. And those investments are already paying off. For example, contaminated sediment remediation efforts were recently completed in Thunder Bay Harbour at one of Canada's most contaminated sites. This effort addressed a legacy of toxic chemicals generated by a nearby wood preserving operation over 60 years. Other sites, Collingwood Harbour and Severn Sound, for example, have been fully restored while recovery is being monitored at Spanish Harbour, where necessary actions toward restoration have been completed.
Rocky shore of Lake Superior. Photo: Karen Holland. Click to enlarge.
The Great Lakes ecosystem has seen many improvements thanks to initiatives born of this agreement. Already the Lakes are cleaner than a generation ago, especially in the area of chemical pollution, one of the most serious threats.
However, continuing commitment is needed. Drinking water is safe, but we must keep contaminants out. Most beaches are safe for swimming, but at times bacteria levels are still too high. Most fish are safe to eat, although a significant portion remains unfit for consumption. Some fish species like lake trout are recovering, but others such as walleye are declining. Wildlife populations like bald eagles are growing, but the marsh wren population, for example, is shrinking. And more than 160 damaging aquatic invasive species have entered the Great Lakes and more continue to arrive.
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement — You can help reshape it
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is reviewed every six years. And this year, 2005, marks the latest review of the Agreement – a process designed to ensure that the GLWQA meets the needs of the Great Lakes well into the 21st century.
And, your participation is needed! Public input is a key element to the overall success of the review process and gives you an opportunity not only to comment on the operation and effectiveness of the Agreement, but also to play a role in shaping the Great Lakes' future. At the request of the governments of Canada and the United States, the International Joint Commission is holding public meetings on how well the GLWQA has worked so far.
The meetings will take place in 14 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River cities this fall. The Canadian locations and dates are:
