The Great Lakes Commission

By Beck Lameka Pearson

Local commitment protects the Great Lakes through investments in wastewater.

The importance of water and wastewater infrastructure in its role in protect our nation’s freshwater resources cannot be underestimated. Numerous interstate and international agreements over the past 35 years in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region, highlight this importance in the spirit of collaboration: the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, 1972; Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem; the St. Lawrence Plan, 2005-2010; and the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, 2005. Implementation of these agreements is only possible if federal and state/provincial governments intend to fully support their commitments. While funding from these agreements is critical, the responses gathered through the recent survey, demonstrate that local governments are already working actively towards the achievement of these regional goals.

The Great Lakes Commission, in partnership with the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, recently completed a ground-breaking study to determine, for the first time in the region’s history, how much local governments are investing in the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, in the financial year 2006. The 12-month effort gathered responses from 143 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River cities, towns, counties, regional municipalities, conservation authorities, and local port authorities. The results make a solid case that local units of government are committed to protect and restore the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

The survey asked local governments to report local investment on 26 activities grouped in two major categories entitled “Water Quality and Water Conservation,” and “Other Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Activities.” After compiling the information received from the 143 local governments, the results show that local governments had spent $2.48 billion on Water Quality and Water Conservation Activities, and an additional $780 million on Other Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Activities, for a grand total of over $3.2 billion in 2006. Here’s a look at the most important budget items.

By far, the largest expenditures reported are in the area of water and wastewater systems:

• $1.98 billion were allocated to capital improvement of wastewater infrastructure, and the operation and maintenance of those systems in 2006. That amount represents 79% of monies, allocated to Water Quality and Water Conservation Activities, and 60% of overall survey expenditures.
• Local governments surveyed spent $319 million on drinking water management, almost 10% of overall survey expenditures.

Activities under drinking water management include:

• System water audits; and leak detection and repair to infrastructure to reduce water loss
• Residential low-flow, fixture-replacement incentives
• “Capacity buy-back” incentives e.g., to industrial and commercial customers for water consumption reductions
• Meter calibration and replacement, and increase metering connections
• Backwash treatment from drinking water plants
• Watermain replacement programs
• Watermain cathodic protection programs.

Most of the funds allocated to other ecosystem protection and restoration activities are accounted for by three types of activities:

• Green-space protection: more than $213 million were allocated to that activity, representing 6.5% of overall expenditures. A total of 52 respondents reported spending more than $200,000 on individual green-space protection projects.
• Alternate transportation: totaling $151 million, or a 4.6% share of overall expenditures. Twenty cities and Ontario regional municipalities spent more than $300,000 each on the development and implementation of alternate transportation methods and practices, in 2006.
• Recycling and reuse: $184 million, or a 5.6% share of overall expenditures.

Local governments in the basin have a direct interest and stake in the sustainability of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence. These water bodies support countless recreational, commercial, tourism, and cultural activities for citizens and visitors; drive economic development and improve the economic value of shoreline communities; support critical aquatic and coastal ecosystems; provide fresh drinking water for millions of people; and support agricultural and industrial activities.

As the world's largest freshwater resource and an international treasure, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence are essential to the continued vitality of the cities, townships, villages, and counties, along the shores and in the surrounding watershed. By putting a dollar figure on what local governments do to protect and restore this great asset, the results of the survey show that these actors are decidedly assuming the role of steward of water resources.

The full report, including an executive summary and appendices is available at www.glc.org or www.glslcities.org. 

Beck Lameka Pearson is  an Editorial Advisory Board Member, as well as the Program Specialist for the Great Lakes Commission.