GREAT LAKES WATER QUANTITY MANAGEMENT
On Dec 13, 2005, the Great Lakes
Governors and Premiers signed agreements
that will provide unprecedented protections for the Great Lakes?St. Lawrence River Basin.
On Nov. 30, 2006, the National Assembly of Quebec approved the Great Lakes-St
Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement. View the press
release.
Annex 2001. Click here
for background information about the Great Lakes Charter Annex, signed by the Great Lakes
Governors and Premiers in 2001.
In agreeing to this Annex, the Great Lakes Governors and Premiers reaffirm
their commitment to the five broad principles set forth in the Great Lakes Charter, and further reaffirm that the
provisions of the Charter will continue in full force and effect. The Governors
and Premiers commit to further implementing the principles of the Charter by
developing an enhanced water management system that is simple, durable,
efficient, retains and respects authority within the Basin, and, most
importantly, protects, conserves, restores, and improves the Waters and
Water-Dependent Natural Resources of the Great Lakes Basin. State and
Provincial authorities should be permanent, enforceable, and consistent with
their respective applicable state, provincial, federal, and international laws
and treaties. To that end, and in order to adequately protect the water
resources of the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes ecosystem, the Governors and
Premiers commit to develop and implement a new common, resource-based
conservation standard and apply it to new water withdrawal proposals from the
Waters of the Great Lakes Basin. The standard will also address proposed
increases to existing water withdrawals and existing water withdrawal capacity
from the Waters of the Great Lakes Basin.
Annex 2001 Draft Implementing Agreement
On July 19, 2004, the Council
of Great Lakes Governors announced a 90-day public review period for
documents created to update the way the Great Lakes and the waters of the Great
Lakes Basin are managed and protected. The draft protective measures, referred
to as the draft Annex Implementing Agreements, are the result of
three years of efforts by the Governors’ and Premiers’ staffs to address Great
Lakes Basin protection issues ranging from water consumption to diversion.
Specific protective measures in the draft implementing agreements include: A
commitment that conservation and information programs will be put in place and
maintained in all the Great Lakes States, Ontario and Quebec; A commitment to
use a uniform, resource-based decision making standard in evaluating future
proposals for new or increased water uses; A commitment to a collective
decision making process for future proposals for regionally significant new or
increased water uses; and A requirement that all future new or increased
diversions and regionally significant water uses in the Great Lakes Basin
result in an improvement to the Basin’s ecosystem.
Water Management Working Group Meeting Summaries
The Water Management Working Group of the Council of the Great Lakes Governors
is the brain behind the water management strategies of the Council. Click here to read
its meeting summaries.
Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF) Funded Projects
"Growing Water" Projects (2004)
Creating Improvements to the Great Lakes Ecosystem
Developing a Process to Quantify and
Facilitate Water Withdrawal Driven Ecosystem improvements
Restoring Flow Regimes Through
Growing Water Transactions: Basin-Wide Case Studies (ETN-led project; Click here to visit the
project page))
Identifying and Valuing Restoration
Opportunities at Watershed and Subwatershed Scales
Restoration of the Great Lakes Basin
Water Through the Use of Conservation Credits
Lake Ontario Resource Improvement Opportunity Assessment
Annex 2001 Implementation Toolkit Click here to read project summaries of GLPF-funded projects aimed to develop tools for the implementation of Annex 2001.
Restoring Natural Flow Regimes (since 1999)Click here to read background information and project summaries of GLPF-funded projects on restoring natural flow regimes in the Great lakes Basin.
Other Projects in the Great Lakes Basin
Michigan Water Use Reporting Program, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ)
Water Use Tools and Databases, Great Lakes Commission (GLC)
WATER QUANTITY
MANAGEMENT IN GENERAL
Columbia Basin
Water Transaction Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
Other Places in the U.S. and the World
The Evolving Western Water Markets by by Richard Howitt and Kristiana Hansen on the Choice* magazine (Vol. 20, No. 1, 2005)*An online peer-reviewed magazine published by the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA)
Water trading in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia - web page