Protecting Vital Great Lakes Resources

Forty million people live along the Great Lakes. Residents of eight states walk their beaches, fish and sail their shorelines, drink their waters. Farms, fisheries, shipping, tourism and other vital industries in the nation’s Heartland depend on the Lakes. They are the largest source of fresh water on the planet. And they are in trouble.

A growing list of problems, many interrelated, puts the future of this precious resource
at risk:

• A “dead zone” — with so little oxygen that fish and other life forms can’t survive — has reemerged in Lake Erie.
• Water levels are low, while demands for water, both within the region and from elsewhere, keep rising.
• City beaches are closed more and more frequently as aging sewage systems, unable to keep up with population growth, overflow after major storms and spill waste into the waters.
• Exotic species, such as the zebra mussel, have upset the natural balance of lake species; others, like the Asian carp, are poised to invade.
• Some fish populations have bounced back since the Clean Water Act cut lake pollution, but others — notably lake trout — appear gone forever from most of the Great Lakes.
• Coastal wetlands, which filter wastes and provide habitat for birds and aquatic animals, are slowly disappearing under pressure of development.
• Pesticides from farmers’ fields, weed killers from urban lawns, oil and salt from highways continually wash into streams and make their way to the lakes, while rain brings mercury and other pollutants down from the sky.
• Long-lasting pollutants, banned a generation ago, lie buried in lake sediments, and could be stirred up again if low water levels lead to dredging.
• Climate change threatens to disrupt this vast ecosystem in unpredictable ways.

Americans can protect this vital natural resource

Scientists and policy analysts recommend these steps:

1. Keep human waste out of the water by investing in storm water retention and diversion, maintaining sewage treatment plants, and regulating septic systems to keep up with development.
2. Protect against exotic species by controlling ballast from foreign ships, creating electronic barriers, and carefully monitoring populations and possible predators.
3. Reduce demand by conserving water and limit increased water uses, diversions, and exports until a comprehensive conservation and restoration strategy is in place.
4. Give farmers and urban land managers incentives and assistance to protect wetlands and reduce runoff of chemicals and fertilizers.
5. Enact energy and transportation policies to reduce air pollution, which is today one of the biggest sources of toxic chemicals in the lakes.
6. Protect against further climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and begin planning for the changes that are already underway.
7. Most important, involve citizens, governors, mayors and all the region’s leaders in creating a broad plan that puts forth a vision for the Great Lakes in this century, sets priorities, and lays out a strategy for getting there.

A generation ago, public outrage over Great Lakes pollution led Congress to pass the Clean Water Act (1972), which stopped industries from dumping pollutants into the water and built sewage plants to keep communities' waste out as well. The Lakes improved as a result of such laws. Fisheries bounced back. Levels of PCBs, DDT, and other pollutants declined. Waukegan Harbor in Illinois — once one of the most polluted sites — is clean enough now to eat the fish. And the original “dead zone” in Lake Erie disappeared. But with the “dead zone” back, and other ominous threats rising, it’s time to step up again to protect the Lakes.

Opportunities for action

Opinion polls make clear that Great Lakes residents want to protect the region’s precious waters. Nearly all of those surveyed (96%) agree that we need to do more to protect Great Lakes habitats from pollution.

Some steps are already underway:

• The Great Lakes Restoration Act, is a bipartisan approach to coordinating restoration. More than 60 representatives have signed on as co-sponsors and all eight governors of the Great Lakes states have endorsed the act.
• Great Lakes governors and their Canadian counterparts, adding to the Great Lakes Charter, have drafted proposals to control water use and make sure that diversions from the lakes would not harm the system. The agreement needs to be ratified by all state and provincial legislatures, and by the United States Congress and Canadian Parliament, after which it will be binding on the states. It could take years for the proposed rules to become a reality.
• Under the leadership of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, regional mayors have established the Great Lakes Cities Initiative to develop policy proposals, share ideas and programs among cities, and work for legislation to protect and restore the Lakes.
• Implementation of the conservation provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill can help farmers protect wetlands and reduce runoff.
• The House and Senate have passed reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and it is now in conference committee. TEA-21 is the key law that shapes our transportation investments and has a profound effect on our environment, public health, and local communities. This provides an important opportunity for Congress to implement new incentives to reduce automobile pollution and shape land use to reduce runoff and protect wetlands. A new feature would ensure that road construction projects address their runoff.