Who would have thought it, but working together to solve a problem actually works. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Watershed is the heart of the Midwestern portion of the United States and Canada. The Midwest is home to more than just friendly people and ranch dressing on everything. According to the Brookings Institution, that as an economic unit, the Midwest is the world’s third-largest economy. Due to its industrial heritage, this economic progress has come at the cost of the region’s aquatic ecosystem. The Midwest may be considered fly-over country, but its importance to the world’s economy and ecosystem cannot be understated.
To understand what the governments of the watershed are doing to combat this widespread ecological issue, I examined the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Compact before and after the implementation of the Compact. This agreement occurred in 2005 and was fully ratified in 2008. This agreement led to the further development of the Compact Council, which consists of the American states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The treaty is notable since it allows for further collaboration of the management of the watershed, the inclusion of stakeholders, and creating additional discharge regulations. The Compact is a perfect example of how governments can work together to prevent the pollution of a significant resource.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed ecosystem possesses many different types of environmental issues. The first issue that I examined was the total amount of discharge from the watershed. The Compact Council has made it a historical priority to reduce the total amount of outflow. Considering this factor provides an essential insight into how effective the council is at creating for long-term priorities. The second ecological issue I examined was the phosphorus in Lake Erie. I only studied Lake Erie because it has had a historical problem of phosphorus management and its proximity to a plurality of the members of the Compact Council. The third ecological issue that I examined was the total levels of PCB in fish tissue. PCBs in fish tissue provides a competent measure for the health of the aquatic animals and the total amount of the chemical in the ecosystem. In addition, examining PCBs in tissue is essential to understand how the pollution in the water can affect human health. The ecosystem is complex and more factors need to be considered in the future.
My research findings show that there is a relationship between the implementation of the Compact Council and the reduction of the ecosystem health hazards in the watershed. To learn about the Council’s impact, I ran a time-series analysis before and after the implementation of the agreement. Using a time-Series analysis is the most appropriate type of test because it allows for the examination of the ecological factors before and after the agreement. I examined the years of 2000 through 2004 to establish for use as a baseline of the ecosystem health. After running my pre-agreement analysis, I reviewed the years of 2011 through 2015 to learn how the agreement has affected the ecosystem. The agreement allows members to work closer together.
The ecosystem has improved since the implementation of the agreement. Although the total amount of discharge increased after the implementation, the rate of discharge decreased. I believe this is due to the policy implementation lag. The rate of discharge reduction shows that the Compact council is making progress in its goal of protecting the water levels of the watershed. After examining Lake Erie phosphorus data, it can be seen that the total amount of phosphorus is decreasing. The addition rate phosphorus decreased after the implementation of the agreement. This shows that member states are making progress towards reducing the ecological limiting factors in the watershed. The amount of PCBs in the watershed decreased over time. Despite the increase in the rate of this chemical of concern, I believe that this is due to the prior policies reducing the majority of the pollutant in the watershed. All that is left of this chemical of concern is residual amounts. The ecology of the watershed is slowly getting better.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed is a valuable ecological and economic resource. The Compact Council has made a lot of progress towards protecting this resource through a collaborative governance management regime. To improve upon the gains, the Compact Council members should work towards harmonizing their policies. This would allow for stronger management regime. Water is the lifeblood of all life, and it is important to conserve our surpluses now for use in the future.
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