Enhancing resilience in great lakes water levels management

Abstract

Great Lakes water levels management has been the focus of major studies by the Canada‐U.S. International Joint Commission (IJC) since 1964. The main reason for this activity is the economic significance of lake levels fluctuations to navigation, hydro‐electric power generation, recreation, shoreline erosion, industrial and municipal water supply and wildlife. Reviews of public policies for Great Lakes shoreline management indicate a cycle of developing and then protecting hazard‐prone shoreline. The current study by the IJC presents an opportunity to break this cycle of incremental protection and development by adopting policies that enhance resilience. Previous studies have demonstrated that further efforts to control water levels are limited in scope and costly to implement. The current study needs to be placed in a context of uncertainty due to the potential impacts of climate change which is predicted to reduce average runoff by 20%; diversions and increased consumptive water uses are also likely to r...