Created under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, the International Joint Commission (IJC) works to prevent and resolve boundary waters disputes between the United States and Canada. The IJC is required, under the 2012 revisions to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA), to release a status report on the water quality of the Great Lakes every three years. The first of these triennial reports was released November 2017.
The GLWQA’s report assessed the progress of each country in improving the water quality of the Great Lakes and gave recommendations on how to further its improvement. The report covered topics such as human health, pollutants, nutrients, invasive species, and climate change among others.
Safe drinking water was listed as the top public concern among seventy topics discussed during a number of public engagements throughout the Great Lakes region while preparing this report. The assessment recommended that the “United States match the Ontario requirement for source water protection plans to protect drinking water supplies,” as well as emphasizing the need to address the aging infrastructure. With regard to source water, the report urges the state of Ohio to follow Michigan’s example and list the western basin of Lake Erie as impaired, particularly with the increasing frequency of harmful algal blooms throughout the region. This action would trigger the development of a tri-state total maximum daily load involving Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
The next triennial report is expected in 2019.