Managing a Multi-objective, Bi-national Study on Rationalizing the State of Upper Great Lakes Water Levels and the Development of Improved Regulation Plans

The International Joint Commission (IJC) was founded in 1909 under the Boundary Waters Treaty to prevent and resolve potential disputes regarding many of the lakes and rivers along the border between the two countries. With the agreement of the US and Canadian governments, the Study was funded at a cost of Can $ 17.2 M shared equally between the US and Canada. Following the completion of an earlier Great Lakes comprehensive study in 1993, the IJC followed up on its recommendation to revisit regulation initially for Lake Ontario in 2000 and followed up with the International Upper Great Lakes Study (IUGLS) in 2007. Across the Upper Great Lakes basin since 1997, low lake level conditions continued to be a concern for commercial shippers, property owners and other interests. This was particularly the case in the Georgian Bay region, which features a rocky archipelago of thousands of islands, many of which are inaccessible by boat when levels are extremely low. Lake Michigan-Huron is located downstream of Lake Superior and along with Lake Erie and their connecting channels constitute the Upper Great Lakes. This prompted the IJC to add to the Study specifications to address this issue as part of Lake Superior Regulation. These two phases of the Study are presented in two major sections.