Regulation of Great Lakes Water Levels: the Public Speaks Out

Abstract

The Great Lakes water levels fluctuate around a long-term average; these fluctuations are largely beyond man's control. Most lake users have adjusted to a narrow range of levels but when extremes of stage occur, lake users are affected in different and opposite ways. In 1964, the problem of fluctuating levels was referred to the International Joint Commission (I.J.C). As an integral part of the reference procedure, the I.J.C. holds public hearings. Three sets of hearings were held on the Great Lakes Levels Reference (1964, 1973, 1974). The first part of this paper discusses the I.J.C. Reference and reviews the I.J.C.’s public participation process. The second part of the paper reviews various methods for analysing and summarizing public input; content analysis not only makes possible numerical summaries but also yields quantitative data for further analysis. The major section of the paper focuses on the 1974 transcripts (13 volumes) which were subjected to content/contingency analysis in order to provide objective summaries of public input and to reveal statistically significant associations between pairs of variables with particular reference to the affiliation of the participants. The study suggests that participants who are consulted during the study (federal/state/provincial government participants) make submissions that differ from those of other participants (municipal governments, interest groups and individuals).