Indicators Implementation Task Force
1997-1999 Priorities Report

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

In 1997, the Indicators Implementation Task Force (IITF) was established by the International Joint Commission (IJC) to investigate the feasibility of using indicators to monitor the progress of Canada and the U.S. (Parties) under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (Agreement). The IITF work built upon the framework set forth by the Indicators for Evaluation Task Force (IETF) 1996 publication Indicators to Evaluate Progress under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

  1. Environmental indicators encompass a broad suite of measures, including tools for the assessment of chemical, physical and biological conditions and processes at several scales. In recognition of this fact, and as a framework for the IJC's indicators program, the IETF Report (1996) proposed "nine desired, positive outcomes to which the public and decision makers can relate and strive to achieve." (See Table 1.)
  2. The Desired Outcomes incorporated the 14 beneficial uses listed in Annex 2 of the Agreement and are discussed in greater detail in Section 6.0 of this report.
  3. For each of the Desired Outcomes studied, the IETF proposed indicators and measurements. According to the IETF (1996), measurements are primary data that provide the scientific basis to any conclusion in regard to achieving a Desired Outcome. Metadata are data about databases. Metadata describes the who, what, where, why and when of the data in each database.

1.2 Mission

The IITF is commissioned to:

Table 1. Desired Outcomes for the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (IETF 1996)

1. Fishability There shall be no restrictions on the human consumption of fish in the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem as a result of anthropogenic (human) inputs of persistent toxic substances.
2. Swimmability No public bathing beaches closed as a result of human activities or, conversely, all beaches are open and available for public swimming.
3. Drinkability Treated drinking water is safe for human consumption; human activities do not result in application of consumption restrictions.
4. Healthy Human Populations Human populations in the Great Lakes basin are healthy and free from acute illness associated with locally high levels of contaminants or chronic illness associated with long-term exposure to low levels of contaminants.
5. Economic Viability A regional economy that is viable, sustainable and provides adequate sustenance and dignity for the human population of the basin.
6. Biological Community Integrity and Diversity Maintenance of the ability of biological communities to function normally in the absence of severe environment stress (ecosystem health) and to cope with changes in environmental conditions which impose stress, i.e. to be able to maintain their processes of self-organization on an ongoing basis (ecological integrity). Maintenance of the diversity of biological communities, species and genetic variation within species.
7. Virtual Elimination of Inputs of Persistent Toxic Substances Virtual elimination of inputs of persistent toxic substances to the Great Lakes system.
8. Absence of Excess Phosphorus Absence of excess phosphorus entering the water as a result of human activity.
9. Physical Environment Integrity Land development and use compatible with maintaining aquatic habitat of a quantity and quality necessary and sufficient to sustain an endemic assemblage of fish and wildlife populations.

1.3 Definitions

The IJC uses the following definition for an indicator:

"An indicator provides a clue to a matter of larger significance or makes perceptible a trend or phenomenon that is not immediately detectable. An indicator is a sign or symptom that makes something known with a reasonable degree of certainty. An indicator reveals, gives evidence, and its significance extends beyond what is actually measured to a larger phenomenon of interest" (IETF, 1996).

The U.S. Intergovernmental Task Force on Monitoring Water Quality defined an environmental indicator as a:

"measurable feature which singly or in combination provides managerially and scientifically useful evidence of environmental and ecosystem quality, or reliable evidence of trends in quality" (ITFM as cited in IETF, 1996).

1.4 Guiding Principles

IITF suggests the following guidelines for the selection indicators.

  1. Indicators must be definable in the same manner by all parties. They should be standardized, use accepted terminology easily understood by the public.
  2. Indicators must include metrics that are measurable using accepted scientific techniques consistent and reasonable with the practices currently being carried out by those in natural resources fields.
  3. Indicators must be selected with the assumption that there are hundreds of potential indicators that would be equally plausible. The selection of specific indicators represents a best attempt to select those that will adequately measure environmental health and the progress of programs toward this goal.

The main purpose of this activity was to identify databases and other sources of information that could be used to support the IETF proposed indicators program. A number of federal, state, provincial and local government agencies and other organizations provided information and data to support indicators for assessing and monitoring progress under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (see Table 2).

Table 2. Key Agencies, Organizations and Partnerships

U.S. Federal Canadian Federal NGOs
Environmental Protection Agency Environment Canada The Nature Conservancy
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Health Canada The Audubon Society
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Ducks Unlimited
National Resource and Conservation Service The National Wildlife Federation
Sea Grant Programs The Natural Resources Defense Council