The immense size of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River and their value to Canada and the United States are hard to imagine, even for residents of this region.
Water Quality
Protocol Amending the Agreement Between Canada and the United States of America
on Great Lakes Water Quality, 1978, as Amended on October 16,
The Red River, which flows north between North Dakota and Minnesota and through southern Manitoba, isn’t the only US-Canadian waterway facing issues with pollutants such as nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfates.
In the spring of 2017, five US water systems in the Great Lakes region embarked on a utility world series of sorts.
The 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the U.S. was amended in 2012 to, among other things, include a new annex to address climate change impacts.
Although water quality in the Great Lakes is generally good, Canada and the US still lag behind in meeting goals to identify Chemicals of Mutual Concern and develop strategies to address pollution.
Projected changes to the Great Lakes region’s climate suggest milder winters will become the norm, bringing with them more rainfall. That’s going to put a strain on older infrastructure, leading to the possibility of additional combined sewer overflows and floods like those seen across the Great…
Robust land conservation involves an ongoing focus on protecting and restoring properties. Success is measured not only in terms of projects completed but in making a meaningful difference in the community for people and the environment.
A project to catalog, map and monitor every Great Lakes wetland larger than four hectares should be a boon to efforts to improve water quality, allowing researchers to get a better picture of where problems are arising and how expansive these problems might be.
The International Joint Commission (IJC) has released initial work plans relating to the reduction of nutrient loading and the causes of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the Lake Champlain-Missisquoi Bay and Lake Memphremagog basins.