IJC to allow Georgian Bay to drop another 1.25 metres

News release from Sierra Club Canada August 9 2012

The International Joint Commission may be intending to allow water levels in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay to drop by more than 1.25 metres (4 feet) below current levels that are already at historically low threatening shoreline wetlands, navigation and access of island properties if the recommendations of a report by the Upper Great Lakes Study Board are adopted.  A video shown at a series of public meeting arranged by the IJC  appeared to downplay the implications to the middle lakes.

“The public was asked to comment on the recommendations with insufficient information provided. The Study Board chose not to inform us of the devastating impacts on Lakes Michigan/Huron and Georgian Bay of the new 2012 Lake Superior Regulation Plan with a blurred video.” said Mary Muter, Great Lakes Section Chair, Sierra Club Ontario.

For the past 13 years, the water level of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay has been hovering near its all-time low. The International Joint Commission (IJC) held public hearings in July at locations around the Great Lakes to consider the recommendations of a five-year $17-million study of this very problem. The video presented at the hearings showed how well the recommended Lake Superior Regulation Plan 2012 would control the discharge of water from Lake Superior to Lake Huron through the control gates at Sault Ste. Marie.  Under dry conditions it showed that, to maintain Superior’s level, Michigan/Huron and Georgian Bay would undergo a reduction of supply from Superior, thereby dropping by up to 4 feet. The video was of poor quality and obscured these facts. Should this 4-foot drop in level be allowed to happen, 50% of Georgian Bay’s wetlands would dry up and much of the iconic Thirty Thousand Islands area of the eastern shore of Georgian Bay would become accessible by canoe only.

This warm, dry summer Lakes Superior, St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are currently 10 inches below long-term averages.  However Lakes Michigan/Huron and Georgian Bay are 25 inches below and have been close to this level for an unprecedented 13 years. For most of that time they have met the IJC’s 1993 Levels Reference Study “Crisis Condition” level, at which damage was known to occur and action to reduce the outflow through the St. Clair River was recommended.

The International Joint Commission’s International Upper Great Lakes Study (IUGLS) found increased outflow from Lake Huron through the St. Clair River is a contributing factor to the sustained low water levels of Michigan/Huron/Georgian Bay, but has recommended against action in the river. 

The IJC has just completed public hearings around the Great Lakes on the IUGLS Board’s Final Report. Many hundreds of area property owners and concerned citizens on both sides of the border attended, and most were critical.

“While the proposed 2012 management plan for Lake Superior may well be the right approach for Lake Superior, in very dry conditions it could and likely would be disastrous for Lakes Huron and Michigan. Should the IJC decide to recommend the implementation of plan 2012, it should also recommend the construction of mitigating structures in the St. Clair River which would restore the level of Michigan/ Huron and allow for a degree of control of that level, as is the arrangement for the other Great Lakes,” says Ms. Muter.

Link to Sierra Club Canada for Backgrounder 

Link to IJC public meeting presentation