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THE GREAT LAKES

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The Great Lakes are an essential source of drinking water for most Ontarians. They power our economy and provide a source of recreation for cottagers, anglers, beach goers and sailors. They also serve to moderate our climate.

While the health of the lakes has improved significantly over the past years, they are showing symptoms of stress.  The growing population in the Great Lakes Basin is asking more of the lakes in terms of demands for water and urban development that is radically altering natural habitat.  Invasive species such as the zebra mussel continue to arrive and cause changes to the ecosystem. Climate change is impacting Great Lakes’ water levels and their ecosystem as well.

Ontario is working to restore and protect the Great Lakes through the efforts of several ministries, its own policies and legislation, cooperation and agreements with the government of Canada and U.S. States and close working relationships with groups and organizations throughout the Great Lakes Basin.

Whether through legislation and regulations, monitoring, inspections, enforcement or spills response, much of the Ministry of the Environment’s activities are directed toward restoring and protecting the Great Lakes, the land around them and the tributaries that flow into them.  

Ontario’s Great Lakes priorities

The Government of Ontario’s current Great Lakes priorities are:

  • reduction of harmful pollutants
  • conservation of biodiversity
  • understanding and adaptation to the impacts of climate change
  • protection of the Ontario’s primary drinking water source
  • sustainable water use and conservation
  • promotion of more environmentally sustainable lifestyles

2007 Canada-Ontario Agreement - Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem

Crucial to restoring the health of the Great Lakes are the protection of water quality and the health of the aquatic ecosystem.  The Canada-Ontario Agreements Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COAs) commit the two governments of Ontario and Canada to coordinate resources and funding and to work with organizations and citizens around the lakes to reduce pollutants, clean up degraded hotspots, preserve and restore fish and wildlife habitat and protect the tremendous biodiversity of the Great Lakes Basin.  The most recent of these agreements, the 2007 COA, includes two new areas for attention – studying the impacts of climate change and protecting the Great Lakes as a source of drinking water.

For more information:

Clean Water Act, 2006

Ontario has a number of programs that complement and support COA to protect our use of the Great Lakes as drinking water sources. The most recent is the Clean Water Act (CWA), 2006.  More than 70 per cent of Ontario’s population use the Great Lakes directly as a drinking water source, while 98 per cent of Ontario’s population depends on the waters of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin for their drinking water.  The CWA provides a comprehensive framework for protecting drinking water in the Great Lakes basin.  It addresses the Great Lakes themselves, tributaries that flow through the watersheds and ground water that sustains many streams and also discharges directly into the lakes. The agreements affecting the Great Lakes must be considered in the development and implementation of local source protection plans.  As Ontario partners with municipalities and conservation authorities to protect drinking water in a watershed-based approach through the Clean Water Act 2006, the Great Lakes will be a major focus and beneficiary.

For more information:

The Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Act, 2007

If the Great Lakes are to meet the continued demands for water, they cannot be seen as an unlimited resource. In fact, only one percent of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence water is renewed annually by groundwater and precipitation. To strengthen the ban on water diversions and promote water conservation, Ontario, Quebec and the eight Great Lakes States have signed the historic Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement in December 2005.
 
The Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Act, 2007 (SSOWA) provides the legislation necessary to implement this Agreement. As part of the implementation of this Agreement, Ontario has also embarked on an initiative to develop a program of water conservation and efficiency which will contribute to sustainable water use and conservation.

For more information:

Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Review

The future of the Great Lakes is ultimately an international concern, dependant upon the governments of both Canada and the United States. Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements (GLWQA) have been in place since 1972. The agreement commits the two governments to actions that will restore and protect the lakes. The GLWQA is now under review and Ontario is actively contributing to the review to ensure that its concerns are considered in any renewal.

For more information:

The Nutrient Management Act, 2002

No matter how far inland we may live, our actions can have a serious impact on the Great Lakes as long as we are in their watershed.  For instance, nutrients, or fertilizers, are essential to successful agricultural operation. Their improper use, however, can cause water quality problems, locally and for the tributaries that eventually flow into the Great Lakes. The Ontario government introduced the Nutrient Management Act in 2002 with province-wide standards for the management of all materials that are applied to land by the agricultural industry, municipalities and other generators of materials containing nutrients.

For more information: