Global warming deemed culprit in decline of L. Huron

[Spiel]

Global warming deemed culprit in decline of L. Huron

 

 

by Jim Moodie / February 21, 2008

manitoulin.ca

 

 

LAKE HURON-As Lake Huron dwindles towards a record low, conviction is growing that neither the Chicago diversion nor the St. Clair River is principally to blame.

 

Rather, in what could be described as a case of finally seeing the ocean for the waves, both policymakers and scientists seem to be reaching the consensus that the bigger, broader problem is climate change.

 

In late January, the issue of global warming was high on the agenda of a premiers' conference in Vancouver, with Ontario leader Dalton McGuinty seeking-and receiving-commitments from his colleagues to address the crisis gripping the Great Lakes.

 

Recent research undertaken by scientists in Michigan, meanwhile, suggests that Huron's water woes are largely the result of increased evaporation, a product of the widespread warming trend.

 

The conclusion, reached by limnologists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Michigan-an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-was published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology in mid-January.

 

According to the Toronto-based conservation group Environmental Defence, the scientists' findings provide a convincing argument for prompt action on the climate change front.

 

The consequences of global warming are hitting closer and closer to home," the group's policy director, Aaron Freeman, states in a press release. "The health of the Great Lakes is essential to both the economy and natural environment of this region. It is a resource worth protecting."

 

An alliance of lawyers and citizens that formed in Ontario in 1984, Environmental Defence worries that levels will continue to plummet if dramatic changes aren't swiftly made in how North Americans conduct their lives and business. And so does Ecojustice Canada, a national law organization that fights environmental battles in court on behalf of Canadians.

 

"This study represents mounting evidence that the prognosis for the Great Lakes is dire without significant, immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," warns Dr. Elaine MacDonald, senior scientist at Ecojustice Canada. "Without action we will continue to witness the decline of our beloved Great Lakes, an internationally significant freshwater ecosystem."

 

At present, Lake Huron is within five centimetres (two inches) of its all-time recorded low for this time of year, and 60 centimetres (two feet) below its long-term average, with the US Army Corps of Engineers predicting that the lake will drop another 20 centimetres by spring.

 

It could get much worse: additional studies, according to Environmental Defence, have "predicted a permanent decline in water levels of one to four feet in Lakes Huron and Michigan by 2050, dramatically changing historic levels that have fluctuated within only six feet (1.8 metres) over the past 100 years."

 

Lakes Huron and Michigan are "especially vulnerable to water level threats such as global warming," the group notes, since "other Great Lakes have locks or gates that can control water levels, but Huron and Michigan do not."

 

Equally concerned about the state of this invaluable freshwater resource and conduit for commerce is the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI), an alliance of mayors spanning both the Canadian and US shores of the basin.

 

Directors of the organization's board, including Town of the Blue Mountains Mayor Ellen Anderson, were closely following the premiers' conference, with the expectation that positive news might unfold regarding a new commitment to solving the water levels crisis. They weren't disappointed.

 

"The premiers have agreed that Ontario will host a summit of experts on climate change impacts this year," related Mayor Anderson, whose municipality hugs the south shore of Georgian Bay near Collingwood. "It could be in a matter of weeks-as soon as it can be held. And my interpretation of this is that the premiers collectively agree that it's an important issue for Canada."

 

Indeed, water sustainability was one of two key areas-the other being forests-that were identified by the premiers as warranting national strategies, noted Mayor Anderson. "As a member of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, I'm excited that they have recognized this as a high priority," she told the Expositor. "I look forward to the opportunity to share our concerns and become part of that process."

 

Mayor Anderson said that, while the GLSLCI addresses a variety of issues impacting the Great Lakes, her particular focus has been declining water levels and the toll-both environmental and economic-this can have on a shoreline community.

 

"My goal was to bring the water level issue to the board on a more personal scale," she said. "If the water levels go down two more feet, this means, in the Town of the Blue Mountains, an extension of our water intake at a cost of $5 million. As a municipality, we will certainly realize additional costs in servicing, both in terms of water and waste water."

 

While exposed water lines and elevated docks in the so-called "big water" of Lake Huron may be the most obvious signs of trouble, Mayor Anderson said that the problem goes beyond the Georgian Bay coast. "Keep in mind that it's not just the bay that you see," she said. "The issue goes inland, and what we're doing there has a dramatic effect on the lakes. The rivers that flow into the lakes have been compromised by water being taken, for instance, by agriculture."

 

Since joining the board of the GLSLCI, Mayor Anderson said she's made a point of speaking her mind and not shying away from worst-case scenarios. "I was asked at one point what my goal was as part of this group and as a leader of my community, and I said it's to provide shock treatment-we have to get people worried, because this has been happening for a long time and as humans we tend to be lethargic, assuming someone will fix it for us. But the invoice is going to be expensive."

 

The Georgian Bay mayor brought forward a resolution on water levels at the December 14 meeting of the GLSLCI in Wisconsin that was heartily endorsed by the other board members. Citing the importance of the Great Lakes as a drinking water resource and site for recreation and commerce, and the threats posed by declining water levels (especially in Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan) to such needs and activities, the resolution calls upon the International Joint Commission (IJC), which launched a five-year study of the Upper Great Lakes last year, to proceed "with a sense of urgency" in its investigation.

 

As well, the resolution commits the GLSLCI to "monitor the progress of this study closely through its representative on the public interest advisory group," and to "organize meetings of mayors and the interested public in the Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron basins to provide information about the nature and magnitude of the problem, and progress toward finding and implementing solutions."

 

Mayor Anderson's municipality, inhabiting Grey County, is not the only part of Huron's southern shore that is alarmed by the dramatic dip in the lake's level. In January the Town of the South Bruce Peninsula called upon Bruce County to support its petition to the federal government to address the crisis, according to the Owen Sound Sun Times.

 

South Bruce Mayor Gwen Gilbert told the Sun Times that cottagers are experiencing difficulties in accessing their properties due to the drop in water levels, and, if the situation persists, the municipality will have to extend the water intake for Wiarton, which draws its supply from Georgian Bay.

 

Algae blooms and an incursion of phragmites (an invasive plant) are cited as some of the troubling offshoots of waning water that have been experienced along the shore of the Bruce.

 

The Georgian Bay Association, which represents cottagers across the "sixth Great Lake," continues to press for remedial action to be taken at the St. Clair River shipping channel, which they say has been deepened over time due to dredging and scouring, hence contributing to Huron's decline.

 

But the IJC, a quasi-judicial body formed a century ago to resolve disputes over waters shared by Canada and the US and oversee regulation of lake levels, has yet to find convincing evidence that the St. Clair is a significant culprit in Huron's decline. The commission launched a multi-year, $17 million study of the upper Great Lakes in March, 2007, following a similarly lengthy (and costly) examination of the lower lakes and the St. Lawrence.

 

For Environmental Defence, the cure to Huron's water ills requires a widespread adjustment in the way governments, companies and citizens go about their daily routines, with an emphasis on conservation and reversing the trend in global warming. Last September, the group co-produced (with four other Canadian environmental groups) a report titled Great Lakes Blueprint: A Canadian Vision for Protecting and Restoring the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Ecosystem, which recommends, among other strategies: heightened standards and support for water conservation, including more grey-water recycling; more efficient municipal water systems with fees based on volume; and greater federal appreciation-and action towards-the impacts of global climate change on hydrological systems.

 

For Mayor Anderson, no one answer will solve the problem, but she does feel that "it will take bold leaders and bold leadership to acquire a positive result with Great Lakes water levels."

 

Governments are finally beginning to act, she believes, but a little after the fact. "We've known this was going to happen for years," she said. "The only reason we're paying attention now is that it is costing people some money. Someone's writing a cheque to get their boat up to the cottage."

 

She also believes that the time has come to stop pointing fingers at convenient targets. "I hear a lot of comments about the US taking water," she noted. "But Canadians need to be educated about what we are taking, and we have to take responsibility for our own actions and stop blaming other people. Until then, we're sunk."

 

Or left high and dry, as the case might be. Asked to compare her area's water concerns to those experienced by communities on Manitoulin, Mayor Anderson replied, perhaps a bit too tellingly, "we're in the same sandbox."

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