The Great Lakes Water Agreements

Abstract

The Great Lakes comprise the largest surface freshwater system on Earth, containing roughly 84 percent of the freshwater in North America and about 21 percent of the world’s total freshwater supply (see Figure Wb 2.1). The Great Lakes Basin is home to more than 30 million people in the United States and Canada and accounts for 7 percent of American farm production and 25 percent of Canadian farm production (US EPA 2008). Freshwater is among the region’s most valuable and important resources— economically, ecologically, and culturally. In the last century, however, these resources have been subjected to heavy pollution and increased withdrawals and diversions often leading to adverse ecological and community impacts. In response, many have called for more effective and coordinated management of the Basin’s freshwater resources. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (not to be confused with the Great Lakes Basin Compact of 1968) is the most recent and comprehensive in a long series of legislative actions to strengthen and coordinate basin water management while protecting it from use by interests outside the region.