Can Great Lakes water level issues be addressed by placing flexible control measures at the outflow of Lake Huron?

COLLINGWOOD, ON
AUGUST 2, 2011
SOURCE-  BeachBooster Streetscapes Ltd.

Upper Great Lakes Study Board to host Collingwood info meeting on decreasing lake levels, public input invited  

Can Great Lakes water level issues be addressed by placing flexible control measures at the outflow of Lake Huron?  

WHAT?  

Public information meetings hosted by the International Upper Great Lakes Study Board to discuss their Restoration Report and  Phase 2 of the Upper Great Lakes Study are happening in Ontario during August- see link.  There is no cost to attend.

WHEN ? WHERE? 

• A meeting in Collingwood is slated for Wednesday, Aug. 3, 7-9 P.M. at theRoyal Canadian Legion Normandy Room, 490 Ontario St, CollingwoodMAP

WHY? 

This meeting which will focus on addressing the 13 years of  Georgian Bay’s low water levels. The possibility  is supported in part in the IUGLS report

“........results show very large improvements across the board for all scenarios and lakes.” Lakes Michigan and Huron are the only unregulated lakes in the system and they are running into trouble due to an accumulation of impacts from a century of human alterations at the outflow into the St. Clair River.."

ON THE AGENDA  This meeting will overview their Restoration Report and Phase 2 of the Study and include:

• Restoration scenarios for Lake Michigan-Huron water levels including an exploratory analysis of potential lake restoration options. The methods, construction impacts and long-term lake level impacts will be presented; 

 “The contrast between economic growth and environmental damage, so prevalent during the region’s previous era of economic prosperity, is a relic of the past. A healthy ecosystem is increasingly understood to be crucial to the region’s future economic success” (June 2011) –Vital Commons, An Agenda for the Great Lake St. Lawrence Region. Mowat Centre / Brookings Institution.

Environmental groups like Sierra Club  are encouraging a single themed response from the public recommending a reversal of the “Do Nothing” St Clair River Phase 1 Report and that flexible measures  be implemented to protect the waters of Lake Michigan-Huron. Sierra Club’s analysis of the Restoration Report has found errors resulting in exaggerations of downstream impacts if remedial measures are placed in the St Clair River. Restoration of Michigan Huron levels is possible using flexible measures with only temporary minimal impacts downstream. The ecological and economic benefits for Lakes Michigan/Huron and Georgian Bay would be very significant.

It has been shown that widening, shoreline work and dredging of the St. Clair River which drains Lakes Huron and Michigan has increased the outflow significantly, simply flushing fresh water through the lakes and into the ocean.

Research

The Upper Great Lakes Study, Options for Restoring Lake Michigan Huron Water Levels: An Exploratory Analysis, done May 26, 2011- Study Board’s recent Restoration Report 

On water levels- St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and Detroit River Current Water Levels

Further meetings http://o.sierraclub.ca/en/great-lakes-section