Restore Our Water International

Water Level Extremes on the Great Lakes Are “the New Normal”

The Great Lakes have been adversely affected by man-made changes to the system that have amplified the impacts of extreme water levels throughout the system. Record setting extremes, including both high and low water levels have become the norm, not the exception.

Lake Ontario at Brighton, Ontario, 29 May 2019 (source: Lower Trent Region Conservation Authority)

An inundated dock and residential building in Ogdensburg, New York, in June 2019. Credit: Bryce Carmichael/Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board

Human modifications to the Great Lakes system since 1865 have included diversions into and out of the lakes, channel modifications between the lakes and outflow regulation from lakes Superior and Ontario. All of these human changes have conspired to amplify the environmental and economic damages caused from extreme water levels.

High waves buffet Michigan’s Grand Haven Lighthouse, located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Credit: Michigannut/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images 2015

Owatonna Island in Chippewa Bay on the St. Lawrence River earlier this summer - WRVO Public Media

Extreme high water on all of the upper Great Lakes since 2014 has been amplified by the diversion of inflows into Lake Superior from the Long Lac and Ogoki diversions for hydropower generation. The Province of Ontario has been unwilling to shut off this damaging diversion and the International Joint Commission (IJC) has simply ignored promoting its cut-back.

Sackets Harbor in May, 2017. WRVO Public Media.

During the 2000-2014 extreme low water period, outflows from Lake Huron were adversely affected by past dredging activities in the St. Clair-Detroit river system that should have been compensated for. The resulting reduced water levels have dried up wetlands across the upper Great Lakes. The consequence is a rapidly deteriorating ecosystem, with fish and waterfowl dying, massive algal blooms, stranded cottages, boathouses and docks, and dry marinas.

In this Nov. 2012 photo, white streaks on a steel breakwall show the normal water level on Portage Lake at Onekama, Mich., which is connected by a channel to Lake Michigan. Two of the five Great Lakes -- Michigan and Huroon -- are at their lowest level on record. John Flesher AP

Over the last 20 years, water levels in the middle Great Lakes have met the IJC’s definition of Crisis Conditions. Previously, an IJC Study Board recommended that governments implement a series of measures to minimize extreme water levels throughout the system. Unfortunately, these recommendations have been ignored by the IJC and the U.S. and Canadian governments.

St. Lawrence River at Lake Saint-Pierre, Quebec, 4 May 2019 (source: Transport Canada)

People living along the shore of Lake Erie should prepare for possible flooding in Chatham-Kent and Elgin County over the next couple of days, according to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority. (Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority/file photo) 2017

The IJC is unable or unwilling to solve the problems. Therefore, the public needs to lobby the Canadian and U.S. governments to correct prior human actions.

As an organization, ROWI brings you sound scientific research and solutions dealing with water level management, wetlands protection and fishery and aquatic invasive species control. Join our small and growing band of volunteers who have been working on solutions for over 10 years. There is hope.

Still from Great Lakes Now 1005 segment on rising lake levels, showing a house on the Lake Ontario shoreline struggling with high waters. 2019. GreatLakesNow.org

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