IJC Hears from Citizens on Water Uses,
Diversions and Removals
Seeking comment on its interim report,
Protection
of the Waters of the Great Lakes
, the International Joint
Commission (IJC) held 12 hearings in the Great Lakes
basin and
the Canadian and U.S. national capitals in September and October.
The
IJC heard from environmentalists, Native Americans/First
Nations, government
officials, professors, students, shoreline
residents, trade unionists, industry
and many others at the well-attended
sessions.
Most comments were supportive of
the IJC's interim report, which recommended a
moratorium on any
new bulk sales or removals of water from the Great Lakes
basin
until the IJC completes its final report. However, many were
openly
skeptical that the era of major diversions and water transfers
has ended in the
United States and Canada and called for a permanent
ban on bulk sales and
removals of Great Lakes water.
"Don't sell our water to the
highest bidder," was by far the most
common theme sounded
at the hearings. Many speakers voiced concern over
possible impacts
on the Great Lakes region's ecosystem, economy and quality
of
life, including the exercise of aboriginal treaty rights.
But could restrictions on the removal
of water withstand possible future
challenges in domestic courts
or international trade tribunals? Various legal
experts suggested
at the hearings that such restrictions would likely be
possible,
but that they would have to be drawn up with extreme care.
Speakers at the hearings also pointed
to the need for more information and
analysis in critical areas
during the second phase of the IJC's investigation.
Among others,
these included gathering better data on water use in the
basin,
assessing the potential impacts of water use and removal on
the
environment and human activities, further analyzing trade law
and looking
into the privatization of water utilities.
Copies of
Protection
of the Waters of the Great Lakes
are available from IJC
offices or under the "water uses reference"
button
at
www.ijc.org
on the Internet.
The IJC's final report will be transmitted to the
Governments
of the United States and Canada and the public in February 2000.
George Gibbons and the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909
The Boundary Waters Treaty was negotiated
and signed by Great Britain and the
United States of America
during the first decade of the 20th century, the
result of an
assessment by American Secretary of State Elihu Root that,
between
the two countries, there were several contentious issues including
the
matter of boundary waters. Boundary water issues included
negotiations on such
subjects as developing hydro-electric power,
diverting water for irrigation and
sanitary purposes, regulating
water levels and controlling water pollution.
When the three countries (Canada,
Britain, and the United States) met to
discuss the these issues,
they disposed of minor matters and agreed upon
approaches to
resolve the major ones. The strategy adopted for boundary
waters
was proposed by George Gibbons, a lawyer from London, Ontario,
who had
chaired the International Waterways Commission (IWC)
since it had been
established in 1903. The IWC, which had equal
Canadian and American membership,
examined joint concerns on
the Great Lakes without the power to resolve them.
Frustrated
with this ineffectiveness, George Gibbons was committed to
achieving
workable results.
For two years (1907-1909), he patiently
drafted and negotiated what would
become the Boundary Waters
Treaty until all three countries reached an
agreement. Signed
in 1909, the treaty established the International Joint
Commission,
a permanent body that gave Ottawa and Washington a mechanism
to
address issues directly under the terms of the treaty. It
met all of Gibbon's
requirements for workability so successfully
that its framework is still used
90 years later with few alterations.
To mark the 90th anniversary of
the BWT, the University of Western Ontario in
collaboration with
the IJC, held a seminar last October on the treaty and the
IJC
entitled "The International Joint Commission: Retrospect
and
Prospect." Concurrently, the Historic Sites and Monuments
Board of Canada
unveiled a plaque honoring the work of George
Gibbons and the IJC. The plaque
is located in Gibbons Park in
London, Ontario.
Notice of Review of Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement
Annex X of the Great Lakes Water
Quality Agreement requires thegovernments of
Canada and the United
States conduct a review of its operation and
effectiveness every
six years.
Currently, a comprehensive review of the Annexes will determine
if changes
could improve the Agreement’s operation and effectiveness.
Several Annexes
may require revision in order to make them more
relevant to current programs
and/or to the current state of scientific
knowledge. The following Annexes are
under consideration:
1 - Specific Objectives; 2 - Remedial Action Plans and Lakewide
Management
Plans;
3 - Control of Phosphorus; 7- Dredging;
11 - Surveillance and Monitoring;
12 - Persistent Toxic Substances; and
14 - Contaminated Sediments.
A paper outlining the options for each Annex under review is
expected to be
available electronically in early January at
http://www.cciw.ca/glimr/intro.html
and http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/index.html and
in hard copy by contacting
the following:
Karl Schaefer
Great Lakes Corporate Affairs Office Environment Canada - Ontario Region
867 Lakeshore Road, P.O. Box 5050 Burlington ON L7R 4A6
Attention: Review of GLWQA
fax: (905) 336-8901
e-mail:
glwqareview@ec.gc.ca
James Schardt
Great Lakes National Program Office
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
77 West Jackson Boulevard (G-17J)
Chicago IL 60604
Attention: Review of GLWQA
fax: (312) 353-2018
e-mail:
schardt.james@epa.gov
A 60-day review period for public consultation will commence
in early 2000.
1999 Great Lakes Water Quality Forum
Taken from the closing remarks
delivered by Canadian Chairman Leonard Legault
at the 1999 Great
Lakes Water Quality Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"This concludes our 1999 Great
Lakes Water Quality Forum. As always, we
were impressed by your
interest, enthusiasm and concern for the Great Lakes and
the
quality of their waters. We were struck by the quality of the
presentations
made throughout the Forum. We were overwhelmed
by the enthusiastic assistance
provided by the many volunteers
who composed the local committee and who did so
much to make
our Forum a success.
"The one thing I want to assure
all of you is that what you have told us,
the concerns you have
brought to our attention during the Forum have been
heard. Let
me mention one thing in particular that he have heard. We've
heard
concerns about symbols. Look around you and look at all
the young people who
are here. That's the symbol that I'm going
to take away from Milwaukee. A
symbol of the dedication of the
public, of the average citizen, to the
maintenance and restoration
of the physical, biological and ecological
integrity of the Great
Lakes.
"I believe in symbols. I believe
too in metaphor. To me, the Commission is
the conscience of the
governments with respect to their obligation under the
Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement. You, the public and the members
of the
non-governmental organizations, are the keepers of that
conscience. Especially,
the eloquent manifestation of your role
as keepers of the conscience is your
presence here and the concern
expressed by that presence. I thank all of you,
but particularly
the very youngest among you, for your presence here gives
us
greater courage, enthusiasm and inspiration, to do the job that
we have been
appointed to do.
"We've heard a number of others
things as well. I will mention only a very
few. We've heard that
although the Great Lakes are cleaner, there's much left
to be
done. We've heard some specifics about what's left to be done.
Better
binational coordination of LaMPs and RAPs is needed. More
important still,
we've been told that some jurisdictions around
the Great Lakes have stopped
collecting vitally needed data for
the monitoring of the progress under the
Agreement. We're also
told that the IJC should play an important role in
working to
close the gaps between local groups and the federal authorities.
And
that the IJC should take the lead in developing a common
standard for the
monitoring and control of invasive exotic species.
"I would also like to express
on behalf of the Commission as a whole, the
gratitude to everyone
who contributed to this meeting and for being so utterly
devoted
to making the Forum a success. Our thanks to all."
IJC Completes Review of Stage 1 Lake Ontario LaMP
The IJC has released its
review
of the first stage of the Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP)
being
developed for Lake Ontario
by the Governments of Canada and
the United States. The management plan
provides information toward
documenting the environmental problems to be
addressed by the
governments. According to the IJC review, which is required
by
the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, shortcomings exist in
defining the
threat to human health and in estimating the total
loadings of Critical
Pollutants to the lake. The IJC notes that
the LaMP has not directly addressed
either findings from research
conducted at Oswego, New York, which examined and
documented
neurobehavioral effects on infants from maternal consumption
of
environmentally contaminated Lake Ontario salmon or trout,
or findings from
several other studies which clearly demonstrate
exposure of sub-populations to
high levels of Critical Pollutants.
Lakewide Management Plans are being
developed for each of the lakes as part of
a process to reduce
loadings of Critical Pollutants to open lake waters so that
the
water is safe for drinking, swimming and fishing, and supports
healthy fish
and wildlife populations along with other "beneficial
uses" listed in
the Agreement. The first stage of the LaMP
is to define the environmental
problems posed by Critical Pollutants,
including the threat to human health and
aquatic life. Critical
Pollutants are substances that persist, singly or in
combination
with other substances, at levels that affect human health
or
aquatic life and impair beneficial uses. The six Critical
Pollutants
designated in the Stage 1 LaMP for Lake Ontario include pesticides
(
DDT, dieldrin, and mirex) and other organic substances (PCBs,
dioxin, and
mercury).
The Commission notes that Lake Ontario
LaMP's goals have been furthered by the
following efforts:
-
development of the Lake Ontario Toxics Management Plan (LOTMP); and
-
implementation of the Niagara River Toxics Management Plan (NRTMP).
These efforts provide a substantial
contribution toward the reduction of
loadings of Critical Pollutants.
For example, the NRTMP's previous target for
50 per cent reduction
in loadings of dioxin, mercury, mirex and PCBs to the
Niagara
River represents a step toward the virtual elimination goal.
The Agreement requires that LaMPs
be submitted to the Commission for its review
and comment at
four stages: problem definition, load reduction schedule,
selection
of remedial measures, and when Critical Pollutants are no
longer
impairing beneficial water uses. For further information contact
Bruce Kirschner
at the International Joint Commission Regional Office, 100 Ouellette
Avenue,
Windsor, Ontario (519-257-6710) or P.O. Box 32869, Detroit,
Michigan
(313-226-2170 ext. 6710) or email: kirschnerb@windsor.ijc.org(.)
People
IJC welcomes the recent appointments
to its boards:
