March/April 1996
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March/April 1996 |
by M.P. Bratzel, Jr.
Are the Great Lakes getting better? Can we swim there, drink the water and eat the fish? What data and information do we need to evaluate progress toward these and other goals? How do we know when the goals have been reached?
These are challenging questions, but managers, legislators and interested citizens must frequently come to terms with them.
In the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Governments of the United States and Canada state that their goal "is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem." The governments report on the condition of the Great Lakes through a variety of mechanisms, including the State of the Great Lakes Ecosystem (SOLEC) initiative. The first SOLEC conference was held in October 1994 and the second is scheduled for November 1996.
The International Joint Commission, in turn, evaluates progress to meet the goals of the Agreement. But how can we use data and information to answer the questions posed above? To assist, the Commission established an Indicators for Evaluation Task Force in late 1993 to review data and information needs, identify indicators to evaluate Agreement progress and develop a framework for that evaluation. In April 1996 the task force released its final report, Indicators to Evaluate Progress under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
To evaluate progress, we must be more specific about the goal. What does the Agreement mean by "chemical, physical and biological integrity?" Some guidance is given in Annex 2 of the Agreement, which lists 14 beneficial uses of water that may be impaired by changes to integrity. The Indicators Task Force views ecosystem integrity as including the ability of the ecosystem to:
Thus, ecosystem integrity underlies the viability of the natural system and human uses of that system. Human uses and values include sustainable economic activity, human health and quality of life. Clearly, all components of the ecosystem are interconnected.
Accordingly, the task force expressed the Agreement purpose in terms of nine interrelated "desired outcomes." A desired outcome is a public value that is perceived as important. Since lack of agreement on management goals can be a major impediment to effective monitoring and system protection, the task force carefully defined each desired outcome (see table).
| Desired Outcomes for the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem |
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| Safe for Fishing: There shall be no restrictions on the human consumption of fish in the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem resulting from human inputs of persistent toxic substances. |
| Safe for Swimming: No public bathing beaches shall be closed as a result of human activities. Conversely, all beaches shall be open and available for public swimming. |
| Safe for Drinking: Treated drinking water shall be safe for human consumption. Human activities shall not require application of consumption restrictions. |
| Healthy Human Populations: Human populations in the Great Lakes basin shall be 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. |
| Economic Viability: The regional economy shall be viable and sustainable and shall provide adequate sustenance and dignity for the human population of the basin. |
| Biological Community Integrity and Diversity: The ability of biological communities shall be maintained to function normally in the absence of severe environmental stress (ecosystem health) and to cope with changes in environmental conditions which impose stress, i.e. to maintain their processes of self organization on an ongoing basis (ecological integrity). The diversity of biological communities, species and genetic variation within species shall be maintained. |
| Virtual Elimination of Inputs of Persistent Toxic Substances: The inputs of persistent toxic substances to the Great Lakes system shall be virtually eliminated. |
| Absence of Excess Phosphorus: There shall be an absence of excess phosphorus entering the water as a result of human activity. |
| Physical Environment Integrity: Land development and use shall be compatible with maintaining aquatic habitat of a quantity and quality necessary and sufficient to sustain an endemic assemblage of fish and wildlife populations. |
Associated with each desired outcome is a large body of data and information. Today's electronic technology facilitates identification of and access to that information. However, which data and information are necessary and how much are sufficient? How does one massage a mass of facts into a handful of meaningful numbers that signal whether environmental conditions are getting better or worse?
The task force identified a set of indicators or measurements it feels are appropriate and necessary to evaluate progress toward achievement of each desired outcome. The selected indicators and measurements are responsive to the stresses that impact each desired outcome. Criteria for selection include relevance to the Agreement, scientific completeness and public understandability. Details are contained in the task force's report.
The task force's advice provides a guide for what types of data and information are required as well as a framework or context for their use, from a scientific and policy perspectives. The framework provides a link between scientific questions -- what is happening in the environment and why -- and policy questions -- the significance of environmental changes and our response. With appropriate indicators, we will be better able to answer the questions posed at the beginning of this article.
Copies of Indicators to Evaluate Progress Under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement may be obtained from the Commission's Windsor, Ottawa or Washington offices, or via Internet on the Commission's home page: http://www.ijc.org . For more information, contact Marty P. Bratzel, International Joint Commission, Great Lakes Regional Office. Email bratzelm@ijc.wincom.net; telephone (519)257-6701 or (313)226-2170.
Sommaire
Les Grands Lacs sont-ils sur la voie de l'amélioration? Peut-on s'y baigner, en boire l'eau et manger les poissons qu'on y pêche? De quelles données et informations avons-nous besoin pour évaluer les progrès réalisés à ces chapitres et à d'autres? Comment savons-nous si les buts sont atteints?
Selon le groupe de travail sur les indicateurs de mesure, pour qu'un écosystème conserve son intégrité, il doit pouvoir : (1) fonctionner normalement dans des conditions normales (santé de l'écosystème); (2) s'adapter au stress; et (3) continuer à évoluer et à se développer. Ainsi, l'intégrité d'un écosystème est une assise de la viabilité du système naturel et de l'utilisation qu'en font les humains.
Le groupe de travail a donc exprimé la finalité de l'Accord relatif à la qualité de l'eau dans les Grands Lacs sous la forme de neuf objectifs reliés les uns aux autres, puis il a méticuleusement défini ceux-ci.
Revised: 28 February 1997
Maintained by Kevin McGunagle,
mcgunaglek@ijc.wincom.net