WATER QUALITY OF THE UPPER GREAT LAKES INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION MAY 1979 FIRSTPRINTING (MAY 1979) Reportavailable from: UnitedStates Section InternationalJoint Commission 1717 H Street, N. W. Washington, D.C. 20440 Canad ian Sect ion International Joint Commission 100 MetcalfeStreet Ottawa,Ontario KIP 5M1 GreatLakes Regional Office InternationalJoint Commission 100 Ouellette Avenue Windsor,Ontario N9A 6T3 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER TI TLE PAGE LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES ix 1 SUMMARY 1 2 I NTRODUCT ION 5 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE UPPER LAKESREFERENCE QUESTIONS THE UPPER LAKESREFERENCE GROUP Organization StudyPlan Costand Time 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE UPPER LAKES AND ITS BASIN 9 DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS 9 PHYSICAL LIMNOLOGY 10 WaterBudget 10 ThermalRegime 13 Circulation 13 SEDIMENTCHARACTERISTICS 14 CHEMICALCHARACTERISTICS 18 LakeHuron, Georgian Bay, andNorth Channel 18 LakeSuperior 19 BACTERIOLOGY 29 AQUATIC BIOLOGY 3.9 FISHERIES 20 4 WORKSHOPSAND PUBLICHEARiNGS 23 INITIAL HEARINGS 23 F INAL HEAR INGS 25 iii CHAPTER TITLE PAGE 29 5 STATUS OF THE UPPER LAKES WATER QUALITY FINDINGS FOR SPECIFIC GEOGRAPHIC AREAS 30 LakeSuperior Basin 30 Thunder Bay 30 Duluth-SuperiorHarbor 37 Western Arm of LakeSuperior 39 Ontar io North Shore 42 MichiganSouth Shore 43 LakeHuron Basin 44 St. MarysRiver 44 NorthChannel 45 CottageCountry Shoreline of Georgian Bay 46 Sagi naw Bay 47 MainLake Shoreline 50 WHOLE-LAKEFACTORS 51 Nutrient Enrichment ( Phosphorus) 51 OrganicContaminants 53 Metal s 55 DEGRADATIONFROM ATMOSPHERIC INPUTS 55 OTHER ISSUES 56 5 ANSWERS TO THE REFERENCE QUESTIONS 59 REFERENCE QUESTION 1 59 REFERENCE QUESTION 2 59 REFERENCE QUESTION 3 60 REFERENCE QUESTION 4 64 Phosphorus 64 PersistentSynthetic Organic Compounds 64 7 NONDEGRADATI ON 67 FRAMEWORKFOR WATER QUALITY PRESERVATION 67 iv CHAPTER TITLE PAGE 7 cont Id. ACHIEVEMENT OF NONDEGRADATION 69 Educati on and Pub 1 ic Attitudes 70 TechnologicalDevelopment 71 InformationRequirements 71 8 RECOMMENDATIONS 73 APPENDIX A - TEXT OF REFERENCETHETOINTERNATIONAL 75 JOI NTCOMMISSI ON TO STUDYPOLLUTION PROBLEMS OF LAKE HURONAND LAKE SUPERIOR APPENDIX B - MEMBERSHIP OF THEUPPER LAKES REFERENCE 77 GROUPAND ITSCOMMITTEES APPENDIX C - PERSONSPRESENTING BRIEFS OR TESTIMONY 81 ATTHE COMMISSION'S PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THEUPPER LAKES REFERENCE APPEND1 X D - RECOMMENDATI ONS 85 UPPERLAKES REFERENCE GROUP APPENDIX E - METRICTERMINOLOGY AND CONVERSION FACTORS 91 V LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1 WATER WITHDRAWALSFROM THE UPPER LAKES 11 2 INDUSTRIALUSES OF UPPER LAKES WATER IN 1976 11 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF THEUPPER LAKES 12 4 RESIDENCE AND FLUSHINGTIMES 12 5 POINT-SOURCEDISCHARGERS TO OBSERVEDPOLLUTED OR DEGRADED 33 AREASOF LAKE SUPERIOR 6 POINT-SOURCEDISCHARGERS TO OBSERVEDPOLLUTED OR DEGRADED 34 AREAS OF LAKE HURON 7 TOTAL PHOSPHORUS CONCENTRATIONS IN THEUPPER LAKES 35 8 PRESENT AND PROJECTED PHOSPHORUS LOADINGS TO THE UPPER LAKES 36 9 MUNICIPAL AND INDUSTRIALDISCHARGERS FOR WHICHREMEDIAL 61 PROGRAMS ARE RECOMMENDED 10 ESTIMATEDCAPITAL COSTS FOR WASTE TREATMENT 62 vii LIST OF FIGURES F I GURE PAGE 1 LAKESUPERIOR - SUMMER SURFACECURRENTS 15 2 LAKE HURON - SUMMER CIRCULATIONINTHE EPILIMNION 16 3 PREVAILINGCIRCULATION INSAGINAW BAY 17 4 LOCATION MAP OF LAKESUPERIOR 31 5 LOCATION MAP OF LAKE HURON 32 6 DISTRIBUTION OF TACONITETAILINGS INLAKE SUPERIOR BASED 40 UPON VISUALEXAMINATION OF SURFACESEDIMENT SAMPLES 7 WESTERN LAKESUPERIOR AVERAGE CONCENTRATIONS OF AMPHIBOLE 41 ASBESTOSFIBRES IN POTABLE WATER INTAKES ix 1. SUMMARY On April 15, 1972 the Governments of Canada and theUnited States requestedthe International Joint Commission todetermine the extent and causes of pollutionin LakesSuperior andHuron, identifypracticable remedial measures? recommendand measures preventto further degradation. These questionshave been addressed and reported upon b<y theCommission's Upper LakesReference Group, and a series of publichearings on theReference Group'sfindings have been held. The Commission'sfindings andrecommenda- tionsare set out in this report. The Commission findsthat the overall water quality of the UpperLakes is excellent,but there are many sources of pollutionwhich should be reduced or eliminated if theexisting high quality is to bemaintained. The Commission alsofinds that transboundary pollution occurs in the St. MarysRiver as a resultof the discharge of phenolic substances by the Algoma SteelCorporation and bythe City ofSault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Wateruse problems occur inseveral areas, particularly in SaginawBay on LakeHuron and Duluth-Superior Harbor on LakeSuperior, as a result of inputs ofnutrients, primarily phosphorus, and oforganic substances. The nutrient inputsto SaginawBay arealso degrading the openwaters ofsouthern Lake Huron. Bacteriologicalwater quality degradation was found in many localized nearshoreareas, with violations of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement objectivesoccurring at several locations. Violations of the Ontario criterion forradium in drinking water supplies continue to occurat Serpent Harbour on theNorth Channel, Water quality inthe western arm of LakeSuperior is adverselyaffected by asbestos inputs from Reserve Mining Company. Inthe St. MarysRiver, the sediments are contaminated with phenolic sub- stances,oil, cyanide, iron, and zinc, and thewaters are contaminated with phenolicsubstances and cyanide,discharged from Algoma Steel Corp. Sedi- ments,water, and fishin many othernearshore areas ofboth lakes also exhibitunacceptably high concentrations ofheavy metals and toxicorganic substances as a resultof their discharge, both intentionally and inadvert- antly,into the environment. Because ofthe nature ofthe use of some of thesesubstances, it isdifficult toprevent their unintentional escape. Further,because toxic organic substances are present in atmospheric and land runoffinputs as well as pointsource inputs, they also constitute whole-lake problems. The Commission recommends that Governmentsimplement regulatory and remedialmeasures toeliminate these problems and torestore water quality. The Commission also recommends thosesurveillance, monitoring, and research activitieswhich are necessary to assure restoration andmaintenance of water quality. Notwithstandingthese instances of pollution, the overall water quality of themain bodies of the UpperLakes is much betterthan both the Agreement 1 objectives and thefederal, state, and provincialstandards. The Commission considers it imperativethat the Upper Lakesbe maintained at theirpresent highquality if existing and future uses are to bemaintained. TheCommission recognizesthat this goal may be difficultto attain if economicgrowth and developmentare to accommodatedbe and if pollution controltechnology islimiting. TheCommission recommends, therefore,that allexisting activities and all plannedor potential development that may lead towater quality degradation be subjected to an analysisthat will ensurethat degradation will beprevented. Proponents ofdevelopment should be required to assureGovernments, before they are given approval toproceed with such development,that degradation will notoccur. To avoiddegradation, the Commission recommends thatphosphorus concen- trationsin the effluents of municipal and industrialdischarges, as well as thephosphorus content of detergents, be limited. The Commission alsorecom- mendsa policy wherebyphosphorus loadings will bemaintained orreduced, whileaccommodating future growth, inorder toensure that the phosphorus loadingto the UpperLakes does notincrease in the future and is reduced as muchas practicable. Inputsof several metals to certain areas have been identified as poten- tiallyharmful to human health,aquatic life, and theenvironment. The Commission recommends minimizingthe discharge ofthese materials inthese areas untiltheir effects canbe determined. Persistenttoxic organic substances represent an urgentproblem because of theiressentially irreversible effects. TheCommission recommends banningthe manufacture,import, anduse ofcertain of these substances, including PCB's, PBB's, aldrin,dieldrin, DDT and itsderivatives, and otherpersistent, highly toxicsubstances, whose entryinto the environment is difficultto control, if their use ispermitted. As forother such substances with known deleterious effects,the Commission recommends strictregulatory control to prevententry intothe environment. TheCommission also recommends thatthe producers of new organicsubstances be required to demonstrate the safety of these sub- stancesbefore they are used,and theuse ofsubstances presently being produced,but whose safetyis not yet known, should be restricteduntil such safety canbe established. TheCommission urges Governments to develop and adoptmutually acceptable or compatible methods of determining the persistence and toxicity of such compounds. The Commission also recommends furtherefforts to determine clearly the extentof the health hazard posed by asbestos in drinking water so thatappro- priatestandards and objectivescan be established and appropriatecontrols implemented.Because ofthe possible harmful effects of asbestos on health, the Commissionapplauds the U.S. federalcourt decision that Reserve Mining ceasedischarging tailings into Lake Superior andrecommends thatsteps be takento minimize erosion from the tailings delta. TheCommission identifiesfor future acti'm new concernswhich have arisen fromthe study by the Reference Group. Theirstudy indicates that atmospheric inputs may beresponsible for up to 40% ofthe loadings of certain pollutants to thelakes, including phosphorus, heavy metals, toxic