 "Photo: Courtesy of NASA")
Speakers from across the country, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Menominee, gathered at the University of Toledo for the ninth annual Great Lakes Water Conference on Friday.
The conference focused on addressing issues that greatly impact the Great Lakes region including the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resource Compact, which was created less than a year ago.
Sean Logan, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, spoke about how the water resource compact has developed in Ohio.
“For long-term economic developmental potential of our region, it is critical that our initial efforts to implement the compact set the right precedents to protect the resource responsibly,” he said.
The Water Resource Compact is an agreement among the governors of Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and New York to protect the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. The governors agreed to the text of the compact in 2005, but it was not adopted until the spring of 2008.
Logan said, though the water resource compact is fairly new, he is hopeful it will help with the development of cleaner water systems in the future.
“By protecting our water resources now with the right use of regulatory authorities and state and region-wide data collection into review to adapt the remaining resources, our region will be well positioned to grow and prosper,” he said.
The compact was established by the Clean Water Act, which Logan said, helped established how Ohio will conduct a water conservation and efficiency program.
“[The Clean Water Act] created a large advisory board to make recommendations to the governor and general assembly of how to implement the compact in Ohio. The board consists of very highly efficient 28 people,” Logan said. “While the board has a wide variety of representation, its purpose is specifically focused upon establishing Ohio’s baseline list, outlining Ohio’s conservation program and finally creating an in-state regulatory statue for new and increased water use of the basin.”
Logan said the compact provides the state with some procedures for formulating the water baseline.
“The baseline is to be calculated by the faculties’ physical capacity. We have worked with Ohio’s water current facilities since last December to determine their capacity of water withdrawal and we are close to having final estimation of these figures and anticipate having them submitted by December eighth,” he said.
The conference also addressed issues on the protection and restoration of wetlands around Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, which are the four states that make up the Great Lakes region.
According to the Assessment of Wetlands Programs report in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, which was presented at the event, the Great Lakes region has lost over 50 percent of its wetlands, and some coastal areas of the Great Lakes have seen 95 percent declines.
Nick Schroeck, an attorney for the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit Michigan, said several Midwestern lakes have lost clean water act protections, which is having negative effects on wildlife and the ability of farmers and ranchers to sustain their agriculture.
“Farmers and ranchers need clean water for irrigation and for livestock. Food and drink processing requires clean water. Wetlands provide that function,” he said.
The Clean Water Act, which was developed in 1972, regulates the discharge of water pollutants, including toxic pollutants, oil, grease and fecal matter, into bodies of water.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, one third of Americans get drinking water from public supplies that are fed in whole or in part by intermittent or federal streams that are vulnerable to pollution.
Schroeck stressed the importance of wetlands around the Great Lakes region and how their destruction and loss of protection under the CWA affects wildlife.
“The wetland destruction of Michigan continues. The EPA says 298,000 receive some or all of their drinking water from various small streams,” Schroeck said. “Wetlands are breeding ground habitat for fifty percent to seventy five percent of North America’s duck population.”
Schroeck said wetlands are essential to the habitats of wildlife around the Great Lakes region.
“Deer hunters spend about $500 million a year in Michigan, which is only within a few weeks. Cedar swamp wetlands are crucial for white tail deer in Northern Michigan,” he said. “In 2006, 4.2 billion spent $5.1 billion in Michigan on fishing, hunting and wildlife activities. Most of these depend on a clean and healthy water habitat.”
The conference was sponsored by UT’s College of Law and the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes.
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