Submitted by Lyman Welch, water quality director for the Alliance For The Great Lakes
(Niagara At Large, through its publisher Doug Draper, a veteran, award-winning environment reporter, is committed to highlighting issues related to the health of our Great Lakes – the largest and one of the most precious basins for fresh, life-sustaining water on this planet – on this site.)
The Great Lales from space, An image from the critcally acclaimed Canadian film documentary Waterlife by Kevin McMahon
The Alliance for the Great Lakes, along with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago and the International Joint Commission, hosted a meeting this January 23 with environmental leaders and the public to discuss how we all can help protect clean water in the Great Lakes on both sides of the international border.
Everyone has a role to play to ensure this vision is met. The governments must address new challenges of invasive species, climate change and the re-emerging algae threat while continuing to clean up our toxic legacy. The IJC must engage the public and advise the governments to ensure they get the job done. When the governments hold their next meeting on the new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement this June in Chicago, we urge that they provide a detailed timetable with specific benchmarks for progress to address urgent Great Lakes threats.
The Alliance’s water quality director Lyman Welch. Thank you Lyman, for sharing this news on our Great Lakes with Niagara At Large.
I am inspired by the energy and spirit of those working to implement the new water quality agreement. This next year is vital to ensuring long-term protection for the Great Lakes. As we have learned through the success of U.S. programs like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, keeping the Great Lakes healthy only works when everyone, not just government agencies, finds a way to contribute.
There will be many opportunities for you to get involved over the coming year to speak out on clean water, invasive species and other issues. Which Great Lakes issues interest you the most? We want you to be heard. Be a Great Lakes champion and tell us what actions you are willing to take on behalf of your lakes in 2013.
With your involvement, you will join a strong group of volunteer advocates helping us achieve clean water in the Great Lakes and a bright future for generations to come.
P.S. To see the speakers’ presentations and a video recording of last week’s meeting, click here.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes is the oldest independent organization devoted 100 percent to the Great Lakes. Our professional staff works with scientists, policymakers, businesses, community groups and everyday citizens to protect and restore the world’s largest surface freshwater resource.
You can learn more about this organization and its work by visiting http://www.greatlakes.org/ .
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your comments below. Note that NAL does not post anonymous comments so dare to share your name with your views.)
Niagara At Large 
Doug,
This story is encouraging in that it tells us that there are people out there that are supposedly trying to preserve and protect our water.
The article seems to call for everyone to do their best to help.
However, what would you think of a situation where the Niagara Regional authorities were made aware of what appeared to be serious toxic pollution dump?
That is just what happened August 22, 2012, when we tried to apprise the Regional authorities of what appears to have been a serious toxic pollution dump and received, what we believe, is prevarication, obfuscation and distortion.
I won’t chew up your time and space with the whole story but the whole story can be viewed on the following links:
http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/11/watersmart-niagara-how-does-that-work.html
For more of this story see:
http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/09/pollution-alert.html
It has nothing to do with our veracity. We just find it strange that the Niagara authorities remain allusive on the subject.
We still have not received a single answer to our five (5) simple questions.
LikeLike
I would encourage enviromental groups or schools or just plane concerned citizens to adopt ther local creeks and work with willing land owners to allow for vegetative buffers to be planted to protect from land use operations . We have the ability to turn these no longer living creeks but drainage ditches back into natural filtration systems . I was a member of a group of concerned citizens called Friends of the Forty and witnessed the awareness that they achieved for their little creek in Grimsby . One can only imagine what transformations to the quality of our great lakes would take place if all our tiny watersheds were adopted and cared for .
LikeLike
The Niagara Region is finally getting around to closing the sewer lagoon in NOTL. It’s been 42 years since the Region took over and every year for 42 years the coast line of lake Ontario has been posted, danger (E-Coli) no swimming ,the lagoon outlet poured directly into the lake , the effluent hugged the shoreline and possibly entered the water intakes of St.Catharines. We now need to shut down the sewage lagoon located on the border of Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, also pouring semi raw effluent into the Niagara River. The Chippawa water treatment plant is below the outfall of that lagoon.
LikeLike