The Ongoing Review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

Abstract

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) is a binational agreement, first signed in 1972 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and President Richard Nixon, wherein the two countries (the Parties) commit to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem” (CanadaUnited States 1978). Article X of the Agreement states that the Parties shall conduct a comprehensive review of the operation and effectiveness of this Agreement following every third biennial report of the [International Joint] Commission (IJC). The IJC’s 12th Biennial Report, released in 2004, triggered this important science, program and policy review which commenced May 2006, 2 years after the biennial report, and resulted in a draft document produced by the Agreement Review Committee of the Binational Executive Committee (BEC) in May 2007. Before discussing conspicuous characteristics of the Agreement review, for those with less background on the GLWQA, context is important. The GLWQA is ostensibly a water quality, or some would maintain, a chemical pollution agreement, with a single reference to the ecosystem approach. Both the 1972 and 1978 Agreements were focused on pollutant reductions: phosphorus in the 1972 Agreement and persistent toxic substances in the 1978 Agreement. Considering the wide-scale consequences of more recent stressors and drivers of ecosystem quality such as invasive species and climate change, contemporary environmental thinking and activism has moved beyond pollutant reduction to include the broader concepts of protection, revi-