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Managing the Great Lakes— St. Lawrence River Basin. (312) 407-0177 www.cglg.org. David Naftzger, Executive Director Council of Great Lakes Governors. Council of Great Lakes Governors. North America’s “Waterbelt”. Nearly 20% of the world’s surface freshwater
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Managing the Great Lakes— St. Lawrence River Basin (312) 407-0177 www.cglg.org David Naftzger, Executive Director Council of Great Lakes Governors
North America’s “Waterbelt” • Nearly 20% of the world’s surface freshwater • About 90% of US surface freshwater • Home to 35 million people • 25 million US • 10 million Canada • Major Urban Centers • Ecological Treasure • “Blue Water” Economy Council of Great Lakes Governors
Great Lakes Water Use Economy depends on the Lakes: • Hydropower • Cooling • Drinking water • Industrial uses • Agriculture • Tourism, recreation and boating • Shipping • Fish and wildlife *Excludes hydroelectric Source: Great Lakes Commission
Great Lakes Governors’ Priorities Ensure the sustainable use of our water resources while confirming that the States retain authority over water use and diversions of Great Lakes waters. Council of Great Lakes Governors
Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement of 2005 • Good-faith agreement among the Great Lakes Governors and Premiers • Created Regional Body • State and Provincial implementation • Provincial action • Interstate Compact Council of Great Lakes Governors
Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact • Legally enforceable contract among the Great Lakes States • Created Compact Council • Implementation • Ratification by State legislatures (2006-2008) • Congressional consent (2008) Council of Great Lakes Governors
Next Steps • Regional water conservation and efficiency objectives established • Regional procedures and regulations being developed • State and Provincial programs being developed • Water conservation and efficiency • Water use information • Water management and regulation • Cumulative impacts to be assessed Council of Great Lakes Governors
Decision Support Needs • Improved water use information • Consumptive use coefficients • Better understanding of groundwater-surface water interaction • Gauging • Modeling Council of Great Lakes Governors
Decision Support Needs • Tools to assess individual and cumulative impacts • Improved Basin water supply information and water budget • Impact assessment tools: Physical, biological, chemical • Monitoring, predictive and forecasting tools • Strengthening partnerships Council of Great Lakes Governors
Difficult to Compare Water Use by Sector across state lines due to different methods and data sets
Future Needs Consumptive Use vs. Diversions Improved groundwater information Increased use of remote sensing to determine water use More consistency between states on how water use data are collected/available Support Sec. 9508 of SECURE Water Act (P.L. 111-11) for state/federal partnership in water use data Improved long-term supply forecasting