The Great LakesSt' Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact

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The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water
Resources Compact
Final Briefing November 28, 2007 Advisor Dr.
Tanya Heikkila
Katherine Bush, Nick Cain, Chris Graham, Bek
Hamed, Erik Jorgensen, Adriana Laguna, Molly
Lunn, Ashley Mercer, Muhammad Rahimoon, John
Toniolo, Jill Weyer, Lujing Zou
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Presentation Outline

• The Great Lake Basin and the nature of water
  quantity issue
• The Compact in context
• Proposed program for New York
• Structure
• Timeline
• Evaluating progress

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The Impact of Water Levels A Basin Wide Dilemma
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History of the Compact

• Great Lakes water disputes date back to 1800s
• Fear of water being removed from the Basin
• Straddling communities and industry (Waukesha)
• NY interest in hydroelectric power
• Passed NY legislatures, awaiting Governors
  signature

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Compacts Goals and Mandates
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First Year Implementation Plan for New York

• Inventory Database
• Develop database
• Examine contracting possibilities (NOAA and USGS)
• Monitoring Permitting
• Revise permitting
• NY water efficiency goals
• Advisory Council
• Report to the Compact Council

Source NASA
Water level gauges operated by NOAA in Lake Erie
and Lake Ontario
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Program Structure
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Program Outline
First Quarter
Third Quarter
Fourth Quarter
Second Quarter

• Starting budget
• Hiring two new positions
• Database outsource
• Advisory council meetings

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Assessing Performance
Assessing activities vs. milestones in Master
Calendar
Assessing activities vs. budget
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Conclusions

• Developed in the face of increasing stresses on
  Lakes
• Compact mandates protection of water resources
  for all Basin residents
• The program uses DECs existing infrastructure
• Will help to establish a sustainable use of water
  in the Basin

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Questions?
Katherine Bush, Nick Cain, Chris Graham, Rebekah
Hamed, Erik Jorgensen, Adriana Laguna, Molly
Lunn, Muhammad Rahimoon, John Toniolo, Jill
Weyer, Lujing Zou Dr. Tanya Heikkila