An IJC Report to the Governments of Canada and the United States Further Regulation of the Great Lakes INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION Further Regulation of the Great Lakes INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION CANADA AND UNITED STATES 1976 INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION CANADA AND UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS MAXWELL COHEN, Chairman HENRY P. SMITH III, Chairman BERNARD BEAUPRÉ CHARLES R. Ross KEITH A. HENRY VICTOR L. SMITH FORMER COMMISSIONERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE INQUIRY EUGENE W. WEBER A. D. P. HEENEY D. M. STEVENS MATTHEW A. WELSH RENÉ DUPUIS CHRISTIAN A. HERTER, JR. A. D. SCOTT LOUIS J. ROBICHAUD ADVISERS J. LLOYD MACCALLUM JOHN F. HENDRICKSON MURRAY W. THOMPSON STEWART H. FONDA, JR. RICHARD M. BENNETT JAMES G. CHANDLER SECRETARIES DAVID G. CHANCE WILLIAM A. BULLARD iii iv Further Regulation of the Great Lakes This report of the International Joint Commission is in response to a Reference from the Governments of Canada and the United States. It describes the Great Lakes Basin, explains the natural fluctuation of the lake levels and examines the effect of man's interventions including the regulation of Lake Superior and Lake Ontario. The report briefly describes the technical investigation carried out for the Commission by its International Great Lakes Levels Board between 1964 and 1974 and summarizes the testimony given at the twenty-two public hearings conducted by the Commission. Finally, the report outlines the essence of the Commission's deliberations based on the investigations and hearings and presents its conclusions, declarations and recommendations. v Table of Contents Chapter Page I SUMMARY 1 II INTRODUCTION 5 Nature of the Problem 5 Scope of the Inquiry 6 III THE GREAT LAKES BASIN 7 IV NATURAL FLUCTUATION OF LAKE LEVELS 11 The Great Lakes System 11 Hydraulics of the Great Lakes 12 Hydrology of the Great Lakes 13 Fluctuations Due to Storms 15 Other Natural Fluctuations 15 V MAN'S INTERVENTIONS 21 Dredging 21 Diversions 22 Consumptive Use 23 Navigation Season Extension 23 Weather Modification 23 VI PRESENT REGULATION 25 Lake Superior Regulation 25 Lake Ontario Regulation 28 VII CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 33 VIII THE TECHNICAL INVESTIGATION 37 Organization 37 Considerations and Constraints 37 Method of Evaluating Lake Regulation Plans 38 Development of Regulation Plans 40 Evaluation of Regulation Plans 41 IX PUBLIC HEARINGS 49 The 1965 Hearings 49 The 1973 Hearings 51 The 1974 Hearings 52 Summation 55 vii Chapter Page X THE COMMISSION'S CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 57 Causes of Lake Level Fluctuation 57 Possibility of Further Regulation 58 Further Considerations 62 XI RECOMMENDATIONS 65 Appendices A Test of Reference 67 B Membership of the International Great Lakes Levels Board and its Committees 69 C Agencies Participating in the Investigation 71 D Persons Presenting Briefs or Testimony at IJC Public Hearings 73 E Text of Emergency Application 77 F Orders of Approval for Regulation of Lake Superior 79 G Orders of Approval for Regulation of Lake Ontario 83 H Exchange of Notes Relating to Early Development of the Great Lakes —St. Lawrence River Basin Project and Article III of the Niagara Treaty of 1950 89 I Decree Regarding Chicago Diversion 91 J Correspondence Regarding Further Studies 95 List of Figures Figure 1 Great Lakes Basin Frontispiece 2Great Lakes Data 8 3 Hydrologic Factors Affecting Water Supplies to each of the Great Lakes 14 viii Figure Page 4 Monthly Mean Water Levels of the Great Lakes 1860-1917 16 5 Monthly Mean Water Levels of the Great Lakes 1918-1975 17 6 Storm Effects on Water Levels 18 7 Lake Superior Outlet 26 8 Regulation of Lake Superior 27 9 International Section of the St. Lawrence River 29 10 Regulation of Lake Ontario 31 11 Lake Huron Outlet 42 12 Sketch of Typical Regulatory Structure for St. Clair and Detroit Rivers 43 13 Lake Erie Outlet 45 List of Tables Table 1 Monthly Net Basin Supplies 15 2 Effect of Artificial Factors on Water Levels 21 3 Average Annual Economic Benefits of Plan SO-901 46 4 Summary of Average Annual Benefits and Costs of Regulation Plans 47 5 Hydrologic Evaluation of Regulation Plans 48 ix Chapter I SUMMARY Man's activities in the Great Lakes Basin have to are presently reviewing the possibilities of developing be accommodated to the fluctuations of the Great additional fossil-fueled and nuclear power generating Lakes water levels and their outflows. To make this complexes in the Basin which would take advantage of accommodation easier, man has, for the last one the availability of large quantities of cooling water. hundred and fifty years, endeavoured to bend the In October 1964 the Governments of Canada natural system to what he conceives to be his own and the United States, in response to low water advantage. But the interests of the dwellers in the conditions, referred the problem of fluctuations of the Great Lakes Basin are not all the same. A homeowner levels of all of the Great Lakes to the International on the waterfront of the St. Clair shores with water on Joint Commission. They requested the Commission to his front lawn may be hard put to understand the determine whether further regulation of the levels of unwillingness of a resort owner on Whitefish Bay in the Great Lakes would be in the public interest of both Lake Superior to have slightly higher levels on his countries. beach in order to provide relief to the Lake St. Clair The Commission appointed the International man. A recreational boater on Lake Erie may well curse Great Lakes Levels Board, a panel of experts, to carry the low water levels which restrict the use of his boat, out the technical investigations. It also consulted the but those same low water levels provide expansive various agencies involved and held initial public beaches for the enjoyment of bathers. hearings in 1965 to ascertain the views of concerned The proper balancing of benefits and detriments interests. is not made easier by the political division of the Basin The International Great Lakes Levels Board in between two sovereign nations, and the further 1965 established working committees to carry out the political division of the United States' shoreline among technical studies. The committees were charged with eight states. determining whether the causes of lake level The interests of the United States and Canada, fluctuations were natural or man-made and also the in the whole matter of water level control, are effect of these level and flow fluctuations on the major inextricably mingled and ad-hoc solutions to specific interests. These interests include shore property, both local problems or particular advantageous private and public; fish, wildlife, and recreation; developments of natural resources have become less boating and navigation; and hydro-electric power and less successful in the context of a total gain for the production. Basin. Methodologies were developed to estimate the The Great Lakes and their Connecting Channels effects of varying degrees of regulation on shoreline have been the key to the development of the heartland properties, the environment, navigation, and power. It of North America offering transportation and power, was recognized that these interventions would have and acting as a receptacle for wastes. The Basin is the effects other than those readily quantifiable on an cradle of a rich industrial empire producing one-third of economic basis, such as the impact on the total Canada's and one-sixth of the United States' national ecology, on the aesthetic attractions, and on the social income. The economy of the Basin is basically well-being of all the residents of the Basin. industrial. Mining, agriculture, and forestry also A wide array of possible regulation plans was contribute to the economy. The attraction of sport examined. These ranged from doing nothing to fishing and other water-related recreational activities mobilizing all man's technological skill and a vast adds greatly to the drawing power of the area, both for amount of both countries' construction resources to the inhabitants of the Basin and for tourists from both achieve complete control of the levels and flows in all countries. the Great Lakes. A deep-draft waterway accessible to ocean-going The Commission in 1968 furnished an interim freighters reaching into the middle of the continent has report to the two Governments outlining progress of accelerated development of the Basin. The relatively the inquiry. At the end of 1969 the Board presented constant large flows of water through the Connecting the Commission with detailed proposals for completing Channels has made the hydro-electric developments at the study, which after lengthy discussion and some Niagara and the St. Lawrence among the world's most modification, were approved. These were carried out efficient producers of electrical energy. Both countries and the Board's report was finally submitted to the 1 Commission in 1974. precipitation averages thirty-two inches over the period In 1973 record high water supplies to all of the of record and on the average there is only a slight Great Lakes except Superior exceeded anything variation from month to month in the seasonal cycle. previously recorded. At the special request of the On the other hand, the annual precipitation has varied Government of the United States, and the expressed over twelve inches from low to high and the record concern of the Government of Canada, the Commission discloses periods of several consecutive years of undertook to modify the method of regulation of Lake excessive or deficient water supplies. In addition the Superior in view of these unprecedented conditions actual precipitation may vary by a factor of two or and commenced to set outflows designed to provide three from month to month. relief for the Lower Great Lakes while maintaining The vast surface area of the Great Lakes satisfactory conditions on Lake Superior.