LAKE ONTARIO: WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A BINATIONAL WATER-LEVEL-REGULATION PLAN?

Lake Ontario has been a regulated reservoir since the St. Lawrence Seaway began operation in about 1960. Water levels and flows are controlled at the Moses Saunders power dam on the St. Lawrence River under the tenets of Plan 1958DD, as administered by the U.S./Canadian International Joint Commission (IJC). Studies conducted under the larger IJC Great Lakes Water Levels Reference Study in the early 1990s found that regulation had resulted in substantial environmental degradation, especially loss of sedge/grass meadow habitat that was invaded by cattails. The ensuing IJC Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River Study initiated in 2001 sought to quantify impacts of regulation across a variety of environmental parameters and also evaluate shoreline erosion, hydropower, water supply, shipping, and recreational boating impacts, with the intention of developing new potential regulation plans that would reduce ongoing environmental damage but not greatly affect other interests. The resultant Plan 2014 was presented by IJC two years ago following several iterations, but it has not been implemented. Approvals have been sought from state, provincial, and both U.S. and Canadian federal governments, with several series of regional town-hall meetings conducted to explain the plan to local citizenry. Newspaper articles and editorials, scientific and NGO meeting presentations, webinars, and videos by several sources have both supported and rejected the proposed plan, with most objections coming from shoreline property owners on ephemeral barrier beaches most prone to erosion. While a decision on implementation of the new plan is still awaited, an adaptive management plan is being developed that can evaluate environmental changes that may occur following implementation and thus allow corrective modifications to be made in the plan. Despite extensive studies and input from experts in many subject areas, political implications can still hold sway, however. A change in regulation plan is not a simple matter, as attested by this 15-year (and continuing) process.