The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River have been the backbone of a
thriving ecosystem for millennia, fostering a healthy, diverse, dynamic and
complex ecosystem since retreating glaciers created them 14,000 years
ago. For centuries, these waterways have been essential for the growth and
survival of the communities along its shores. The last couple of centuries,
however, have seen a steady decline in the environmental quality of the
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The economic and social prosperity
that this ecosystem supplies has been taken for granted, and the lakes have
suffered.
The lakes are now under threat. Tragically, the treasured biological system
and source of drinking water to 40 million1 has been polluted by industrial
and commercial waste, municipal sewage, and surface runoff from cities
and rural areas. The once thriving and diverse ecosystem has had much of
its habitat destroyed or degraded and many of its species lost or displaced.
The indicators are all too evident. Populations of native plant and animal
species are on the decline and the health of both wildlife and people is
threatened by an increase in the number and quantity of toxic chemicals
in fish.2
Over 90 per cent of the pre-settlement wetlands have been lost
along the Lake Huron/Lake Erie corridor because of agricultural and urban
development. Water levels are dropping across the Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence River, resulting in further loss of wetlands and exposure of contaminated
sites on the lake bed.3
Invasive species arrive into our Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem
at a rate of about one every eight months.4
At least 180 invasive
species have become established in the lakes.5 Since the opening of the St.
Lawrence Seaway, most of these species arrived in ballast water releases
from large ships. The most recent known invasive species in Lake Ontario
is the deadly fish virus Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS). Native fish
such as lake trout and deepwater ciscoes have been extirpated or are suffering
substantial declines in major parts of the Great Lakes.6
The causes of the crisis in the Great Lakes are clear. Consider:
- Twenty Great Lakes cities, representing just 30 per cent of the region’s
population, dump more than 90 billion litres of untreated sewage into<
the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River each year. Some of the worst
offenders are the Canadian cities of Toronto, Hamilton, and Windsor.7
- Canadian Great Lakes facilities emitted more than 1 billion kilograms
of pollutants to the air in 2002 that are linked to smog, acid rain, respiratory
illnesses and damage to children’s development.8 While air releases
of pollutants from facilities in the United States have decreased
between 1998 and 2002, emissions from facilities in Canada increased
3 per cent during that same time.9 Facilities in the Great Lakes basin
released over 5 million kilograms of pollutants directly into the water.
10
- Unsuitable urban development spreads
across coastal areas and inland, destroying
habitat and dramatically adding to environmental
stresses in the Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence River ecosystem.
- Projections are that 3 million more people
will live in the Lake Ontario’s basin by
2030, most of whom will be at the western
end of the basin.11
- Decreasing water levels in the Great Lakes
are an increasing cause for concern. Water
levels in Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior
are well below normal, and Superior
has surpassed the record low set in 1926.12,13
While year-to-year water levels in the Great
Lakes are the result of a delicate balance
between inflows and outflows to rivers,
evaporation to the air, and withdrawals for
various human uses, we are ignoring this
balance, forgetting that the Lakes are relics
of the last ice age that cannot be replaced.
Pressure to increase water withdrawals on the
U.S. side of the Great Lakes would exacerbate
this already serious situation.
Historically, governments have on occasion worked together to make progress protecting the Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence River ecosystem: addressing phosphorus loading in Lake Erie, for example, and reducing mercury releases
throughout the ecosystem.The progress, however, is showing signs of backsliding, and previous accomplishments
are fading (nitrogen loads are dangerously increasing and mercury deposition from air emissions continue to wreak
havoc on ecosystems). Despite the multitude of threats to our Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River ecosystem, there
lacks a strong commitment by Canadian governments at the federal, provincial and municipal levels to protect the
basin. In the United States, there is a growing momentum by the federal government through initiatives such as the
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, which has resulted in federal bills that would earmark funding of US $20 billion
from the federal government for Great Lakes clean up efforts. Canada’s roughly $60 million dollar commitment
in the 2007 Canada-Ontario Agreement shows little growth from previous commitments and falls far short of the
ramped-up U.S. allocations for Great Lakes clean-up and protection.
One of the essential characteristics of policy-making regarding the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River has historically
been the bi-national collaborative efforts made by Canada and the United States. Unfortunately, in recent years,
the United States has proceeded on its own to set the agenda for the Great Lakes. This is very much because Canada
and Ontario have become weak partners, lacking a strong commitment and strong initiatives.14 Jurisdictional squabbling
and fragmentation of responsibilities have allowed governments in Canada to avoid action and pass the buck
to other levels of government. Further delay will result in far more serious damage to the health of the Great Lakes
ecosystem, and greatly increase the cost of addressing these issues in the future. We all have a personal responsibility
to act now in order to leave the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River in good healthy condition for our children.
[1] Great Lakes Commission. (2004). Resolution: Protecting Drinking Water Security in the Great Lakes Basin. Available at: www.glc.org/
about/resolutions/04/05drinkingwater.html.
[2] Bails, J., Beeton, A., Bulkley, J., DePhilip, M., Gannon, J., Murray, M., Regier, H. & D. Scavia. (2005). Prescriptions for Great Lakes
Ecosystem Protection and Restoration: Avoiding the Tipping Point of Irreversible Changes. Available at: www.healthylakes.org/2006/05/.
[3] Environment Canada & U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2005). State of the Great Lakes 2005.
Available at www.binational.net.
[4] Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. (2005). Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy: To Restore and Protect the Great Lakes.
Available at: www.glrc.us/documents/strategy/GLRC_Strategy.pdf.
[5] Ricciardi, Anthony. (2006). Patterns of Invasion in the Laurentian Great Lakes in relation to changes in vector activity. Diversity and
Distributions 12, pp.425-433.
[6] Environment Canada & U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2005).
[7] Sierra Legal. (2006). The Great Lakes Sewage Report Card. Available at www.sierralegal.org.
[8] PollutionWatch (2005). Great Lakes Great PollutionL Canadian Pollutant Releases and Transfers to the Great Lakes. Available at
www.pollutionwatch.org.
[9] PollutionWatch. (2006). Partners in Pollution: An Assessment of continuing Canada and United States contributions to Great Lakes Pollution. Available at www.pollutionwatch.org.
[10] PollutionWatch. (2006). Partners in Pollution: An Assessment of continuing Canada and United States contributions to Great Lakes Pollution. Available at www.pollutionwatch.org.
[11] Environment Canada & U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2005).
[12] Barringer, Felicity. (August 14, 2007) Water Levels in 3 Great Lakes Dip Far Below Normal. New York Times. p.A11.
[13] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. (2007). Great Lakes Water
Levels. Available at: www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/now/wlevels/levels.html.
[14] Botts, L., & P. Muldoon. (2005). The Evolution of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan
University Press.
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