WC148 MayJune 2026 - Magazine - Page 22
Based solely on dedicated funding, the U.S. annual
investment in cleaning up the Great Lakes is 10 times
that of Canada’s.
Calculating total government investment in restoring and protecting the Great Lakes is challenging,
as in each country it includes spending supporting
a wide range of federal, provincial or state, regional
and local programs, regulations, and initiatives. These
span departments and agencies responsible for the
environment, fisheries, natural resources, agriculture,
health, transportation, and infrastructure. It is possible, however, to compare dedicated federal funding
for Great Lakes restoration. In 2024, the U.S. Great
Lakes Restoration Initiative was funded at US$368
million, approximately CA$500 million. In 2023, the
Canadian government announced CA$420 million
over ten years, or $42 million annually, for the Great
Lakes Ecosystem Initiative. Based solely on dedicated
funding, the U.S. annual investment in cleaning up
the Great Lakes is 10 times that of Canada’s.
But the situation is more complicated than these
figures suggest. To really determine whether Canada
is pulling its weight, it’s necessary to consider the
magnitude of the challenge each country faces,
because, while Canada and the U.S. share the waters
of the Great Lakes, each is responsible for addressing
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the environmental problems they have
created. Approximately 24 million
Americans and 12 million Canadians
live in the Great Lakes basin. Based on
population alone, the environmental
challenges resulting from human activity
can be assumed to be twice as large in
the U.S. as in Canada. However, other
factors influence the relative scale of
the challenges faced by each country, as
illustrated by key Great Lakes priorities.
Contaminated sediment volumes
reflect the scale of industrial activity,
historic pollution management practices
and accumulation over time. In Canada,
1.9 million cubic meters of contaminated sediment have been identified across
11 AOCs. By comparison, the 2020
U.S. AOC Contaminated Sediment
Management Plan identifies 115 sites
across 26 AOCs, containing 47.6
million cubic meters of contaminated sediment, with
volumes at 18 sites undetermined. The contaminated
sediment challenge in the U.S. is therefore at least 25
times greater than that in Canada based on volumes
of sediment requiring remediation.
Phosphorus pollution loads, largely from municipal
wastewater discharges and agricultural runoff, are influenced by population size, agriculture activity and land
management practices. In 2016 Canada and the U.S.
concluded that returning Lake Erie to a healthy state
requires a 40 per cent reduction in annual phosphorus
loads. Canadian sources were found to contribute 533
tonnes of phosphorus annually to the lake, compared to
8,301 tonnes from U.S. sources. Accordingly, reduction
targets of 212 tonnes per year for Canada and 3,316
tonnes per year for the U.S. were established. Based on
this data, the Lake Erie phosphorus pollution challenge
in the U.S. is 15 times greater than that in Canada.
The threat of Invasive Carp entering the Great
Lakes is a function of human actions, locations of
current populations, and available pathways. In the
1970s, aquaculture managers in the U.S. imported
Invasive Carp to control algae in their ponds.
Flooding subsequently allowed the carp to escape
into the Mississippi River system where they have
out competed native species so that Invasive Carp
now account for up to 90 per cent of fish biomass in
some locations. A 2011 binational risk assessment
concluded that should as few as 10 breeding pairs
of Bighead or Silver Invasive Carp species reach the
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
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CONSERVATION
