Lake Erie: The Dead Lake Of North America - 1950's-70's Part 5

A New Beginning For Lake Erie 

As I discussed when I talked about the effect  phosphorus had in the 1960's & 70's, it wasn't until April 15th 1972, when President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, that the condition of the lake and waterways would begin to improve.  

President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
signing the original 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

The 1972 agreement was at its core intended to reduce and limit the amount of phosphorus entering the lake and waterways.  Six years later, in 1978, the original Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was revised, and updated to include a broadened goal to "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem." (Environment Canada)  From that point on, the agreement would not only help limit the amount of phosphorus entering the lake, but would also set strict limits on the point sources of pollution entering the lake and waterways, primarily industrial waste and sewage.

Despite how bad Lake Erie's situation had to become before any governmental action took place, it's good to see that when they did take action they didn't forget to concern themselves with the underlying problem of toxic pollutants entering the lake, and not only the apparent issue of the abundance of phosphorus. 

Since 1978, the agreement has been re-amended twice, once in 1987 and again in 2012.  Both times it was updated in order to better serve its single purpose of bettering the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.  The agreement still today, and hopefully long into the future lays a path for preservation, and proper treatment of all of the Great Lakes.  Even though the agreement certainly doesn't solve every problem the lakes face, nor can it, it does so much to protect our lakes, some of the most precious resources in the world.

     









Sources:
1. http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/publications/FS/FS-046%20Lake%20Erie%20water%20quality%20past%20present%20future.pdf 
2. http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/58#.UsmlxPRDuXs
3. http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/pollution/water/water5.html
4. http://www.ec.gc.ca/grandslacs-greatlakes/default.asp?lang=En&n=647DC488-1
5.
Images:
1. President Nixon and PM Trudeau http://www.ec.gc.ca/grandslacs-greatlakes/default.asp?lang=En&n=E615A766-1