Ohio PIRG Report...

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For Immediate Release:
November 30, 2005

Over Eight Billion Gallons of Sewage Dumped into Lake Erie & Waterways in the Lake Erie Basin in 2004
Ohio PIRG Works with Representative Oelslager to Offer New Solutions

COLUMBUS—A new report “Sewage Overflow: Billions of Gallons of Sewage Contaminate Lake Erie” released today by Ohio PIRG reveals that more than eight billion gallons of sewage contaminated Lake Erie and waterways in the Lake Erie watershed basin from January 2004 – December 2004.

“Lake Erie and lakes, rivers and streams across the state are inundated with sewage pollution. Sewage contains bacteria and viruses that can be harmful to public health, especially for young children and the elderly,” stated Amy Gomberg, Environmental Associate with Ohio PIRG. “The amount of sewage dumped into Lake Erie in 2004 was equivalent to over 2 billion toilet flushes into our Great Lake, a drinking water source for 11 million people.”

Ohio PIRG’s report revealed for the first time an estimate of how much sewage was discharged into Lake Erie and waterways that feed into Lake Erie in 2004.

Untreated sewage contains health threatening bacteria, viruses and parasites such as E. coli, Salmonella and Hepatitis A. Exposure to these pathogens through ingestion or contact via the eyes, ears or skin can cause a host of illnesses including but not limited to gastrointestinal illnesses, Infectious Hepatitis, damage to the liver, kidneys and spleen and even death. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to exposure to the bacteria and viruses present in untreated sewage.

“Sewage pollution is a threat to public health and our environment. Bacteria from sewage not only poses a threat to humans, it also devastates our waterways. Nutrients from sewage are also a likely contributor to the dead zone in Lake Erie,” stated Gomberg.

Ohio PIRG’s report also reveals that in 2004 the monitored beaches along the Lake Erie shoreline failed to meet criteria for primary-contact recreation, including swimming on 16% of the assessed days. Using E. Coli as the indicator for swimmable beaches, health advisories or warnings were issued for 271 days in 2004. This was an increase from the 255 beach advisory days in 2003 and the 227 beach advisory days in 2002.

Ohioans deserve clean drinking water and waterways that are safe for fishing, boating and swimming,” said Mark Silverstein, Executive Director of the Cleveland Rowing Association. “It’s long over due for Ohio to eliminate sewage discharges into our waterways.”

Ohio PIRG’s report analyzes eleven out of the 53 CSO communities in the Lake Erie Watershed Basin, and reveals that these eleven communities discharged over eight billion gallons of untreated sewage to Lake Erie and waterways that feed into Lake Erie, in 2004 alone. Combined sewer systems attempt to treat rainwater and sewage. During moderate to heavy rainfall the combined systems take in more wastewater than the treatment plants can handle. When this occurs sewage either gets backed up, or is diverted away from the plant directly into a local waterway.

Of the eleven communities surveyed in the report, The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), Toledo and Akron were the biggest offenders dumping over seven billion gallons of sewage into Lake Erie and waterways that feed into the lake such as the Cuyahoga and Maumee rivers (see Table 1 on page 10 of the report for the complete list of communities surveyed).

Ohio PIRG’s report also reveals that the Ohio EPA is not requiring wastewater treatment facilities to consistently monitor sewage discharges, report them to the Ohio EPA or notify the public when sewage flows into a local waterway that could pose a health threat to surrounding communities and visitors. According to the Clean Water Act, the Ohio EPA should be enforcing mandatory guidelines for sewage treatment plants to monitor and report sewage discharges as well as immediately notifying the public when combined sewer overflows occur.

“Billions of gallons of sewage are flowing into our waterways and visitors to Lake Erie and waterways across the state are being kept in the dark,” stated Gomberg. “We urge the Ohio EPA and our elected officials in Columbus to require consistent, real-time reporting of sewage discharges and require that the information be made public.”

“Sewer pipes are underground, as are the facts regarding sewage dumping in Lake Erie,” said Dr. Jeffrey Reutter the Director of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program. “The contaminants found in untreated sewage lead to water quality degradation, beach advisories, wildlife destruction, and human health problems. Lake Erie is arguably Ohio’s most valuable natural resource. I encourage everyone to support all efforts to eliminate combined sewers and prevent raw sewage from entering Lake Erie and any of Ohio’s waterways.”

Representative Oelslager (R-51) is working with Ohio PIRG to craft legislation that would give the public the right to know when sewage is dumped into their waterways. "Ohioans deserve to know if their health is at risk" said Rep. Oelslager. "I am working to make sure that Ohioans can protect their health from the threats of untreated sewage."

In addition to legislation that would require monitoring, tracking and public notification, Ohio PIRG recommends the following solutions:
• Communities need to incorporate technologies that will help prevent excessive storm water from flooding our sewer systems. With more control over the storm water that enters our combined sewer systems, there will be less sewage overflowing into our waterways.
• State and federal officials need to support more funding for sewage infrastructure improvements that strive toward the elimination of sewage overflows, such as the separation of septic and storm sewage systems.

Ohio PIRG is currently working in collaboration with over 50 organizations and elected officials to come up with a restoration plan for the Great Lakes that would include much needed funding for upgrading Ohio’s sewage infrastructure with the goal of eliminating sewage overflows into the Great Lakes.


http://ohiopirg.org/OH.asp?id2=20723

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More than thirty years after the Cuyahoga River was engulfed in flames and the Clean Water Act was passed to clean up America’s waterways, Ohio’s lakes, rivers, and streams continue to be plagued by pollution.

Lake Erie, arguably Ohio’s most important waterway continues to be threatened by pollution. Cherished by boaters, fishers, and families for its beaches, wildlife, and recreational uses, our Great Lake also provides drinking water to over eleven million people. While many different contaminants, ranging from mercury to PCBs, negatively impact Lake Erie, this report focuses on one major pollutant that we can eliminate: raw, untreated sewage. From January - December 2004, Lake Erie was flooded with more than eight billion gallons of untreated sewage.

This report surveys how much sewage was dumped into the Lake Erie watershed basin from January - December 2004, looks critically at how our communities and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) are dealing with sewage pollution and protection of public health, and offers a range of solutions for eliminating sewage and protecting the public.

The Problem
Combined sewers take in and attempt to treat sewage and rainwater.

Combined sewer overflows are instances in which rainwater and untreated sewage overflow into our streams, lakes and rivers, including Lake Erie. Fifty-three communities within the Lake Erie Watershed Basin, ranging from small towns like Avon Lake, to the larger metropolitan cities, have combined sewers and are plagued by combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Together, these fifty-three communities have 623 combined sewer overflow outfalls, or pipes, that feed into waterways that lead into Lake Erie, or directly into the Lake itself.1 An analysis of just eleven of the fifty-three communities that dump untreated sewage shows that these communities dumped more than eight billion gallons of sewage into the Lake Erie watershed from January - December 2004. This is equivalent to more than two billion toilets flushing into Lake Erie: a drinking water source for over eleven million people. Combined sewage overflows are a major source of beach advisories, wildlife destruction, and human health problems.2 Untreated sewage contains disease-causing pathogens including E. Coli, Hepatitis A, and Giardia.3 Anyone who comes into contact with water that is contaminated with sewage is putting their health at risk. Sewage is also a likely contributor to the dead zone in Lake Erie’s central basin.

The Clean Water Act calls for the elimination of untreated or partially treated sewage releases into our waters. The law also requires that until sewage discharges are eliminated, sewage treatment facilities must monitor, report, and notify the public of all CSO events. Here in Ohio, sewage discharges go largely unmonitored and are severely underreported to the OEPA. The OEPA does not enforce any consistent reporting of sewage dumping, nor do they enforce any public notification requirements when raw sewage is dumped. Therefore, neither the state agency, nor the public, is consistently aware of the billions of gallons of sewage being dumped into Lake Erie’s waterways. Without this information, the OEPA cannot achieve its goals of enforcing the Clean Water Act and eliminating pollution in our waterways. In the meantime, the public cannot adequately protect themselves from the disease-causing bacteria found in untreated sewage.

Solutions
To eliminate sewage from entering our waterways and protect public health, the Ohio PIRG Education Fund recommends the following:

1) Communities need to incorporate technologies that help prevent excessive storm water from flooding our sewer systems. With more control over the storm water that enters our combined sewer systems, there will be less sewage overflowing into our waterways.

2) Our state officials need to support more funding for sewage infrastructure improvements that strive toward the elimination of sewage overflows, such as the separation of septic and storm sewage systems.

3) The OEPA needs to make reporting of any and all sewage discharges mandatory and consistent. The wastewater treatment facilities and the OEPA should notify the public in real time when these public health threats occur.

4) One promising development in the effort to stop sewage dumping is the recent creation of the Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes coalition and the EPA-led Great Lakes Regional Collaborative. Both efforts are in the process of finalizing a fundable plan to restore the Great Lakes, including the “virtual elimination” of sewage dumping. The outcomes from this process will impact the future of eliminating sewage discharges into the Great Lakes.

Eliminating sewage dumping will take political will, citizen activation, funding and forward thinking. And, until the day comes when sewage dumping is eliminated, state officials need to track how much sewage we are dumping and develop comprehensive public notification programs to protect the public.
http://ohiopirg.org/OH.asp?id2=20722

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Sewage Warning!: What the Public Doesn’t Know About Sewage Dumping in the Great Lakes ... 5/26/05


More than 30 years after passage of the Clean Water Act and despite the fact that over 7 million people become sick each year from sewage dumping, over 850 billion gallons of untreated or partially treated sewage are being released into U.S. rivers, lakes and streams every year. In the Great Lakes, this problem is particularly severe: sewage dumping is a major source of water quality degradation and attendant beach closings, wildlife diebacks and human health problems.

Despite the known risks associated with sewage dumping, citizens in the Great Lakes are often not told when sewage is being dumped. Most states around the Great Lakes have weak, nonexistent or unevenly enforced sewage dumping public notification laws and regulations. Citizens deserve to know when the waterways in their neighborhoods are unsafe because of sewage dumping; they also deserve to know what is being done to stop this problem and how to protect their health. Currently, many citizens are being denied this right and, thus, exposed unknowingly to contaminated water.

The elements of a strong dumping right-to-know program include direct, immediate public notification via multiple methods as well as prenotification of potential dumping, annual reports that detail the extent of the problem, and a public education and outreach program that teaches citizens how to avoid sewage contamination. Ranking statewide sewage dumping laws/regulations and their implementation against these criteria reveals the following:

Michigan (A-): Best overall law, although implementation needs to be improved.

Indiana (B+): A model for direct public notification, but misses some types of dumping.

New York (B-): Some strong requirements, but significant loopholes.

Minnesota (C+): Notification system needs to be more systematic and coordinated.

Pennsylvania (C-): Notification is not comprehensive and does not reach public directly.

Illinois (C-): Scattered approach needs to be strengthened and institutionalized.

Wisconsin (D+): Vague rule needs to be expanded, clarified and codified.

Ohio (D-): No significant statewide public notification program exists.

While notification is important to protect citizens from the hazards of sewage dumping, the only way to truly protect public health over the long-term is to stop the regular release of raw or partially untreated sewage. To stop sewage dumping, three things need to happen:

1) Communities need to enact comprehensive sewage dumping solutions that focus on preventing stormwater from entering sewage systems as well as the proper operation and maintenance of sewage infrastructure.

2) Government agencies need to provide more funding for sewage infrastructure and ensure that funding is used effectively.

3) Environmental agencies need to enforce laws that require long-term elimination of overflows and shortterm penalties for non-compliance.

One promising development in the effort to stop sewage dumping is the recent creation of the Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition and the EPA-led Great Lakes Regional Collaborative. Both efforts are in the process of creating a fundable plan to restore the Great Lakes, including the “virtual elimination” of sewage dumping. The outcomes from these processes will shape the future of sewage dumping in the Lakes.

Overall, preventing sewage dumping is not a technological issue, but rather it is an issue of political will, citizen activation, funding and creative thinking. Until the day comes when wastewater treatment plants stop dumping hazardous sewage, Great Lakes states need to enact comprehensive public notification programs to protect the health and well-being of its citizens.

http://ohiopirg.org/OH.asp?id2=17305&id3=OH&

[ezmarc]

In my opinion this group (PIRG- Public Information Research Group) is not much better than PETA.

They take known facts and present them in a way that scares the hell out of people!

It should be a known fact that cities, counties, business and individuals are spending trillions of dollars to improve sewer systems everywhere. This group makes it look like government is trying to stop improvements to sewage systems when that isn't the case at all.

Over flows happen during periods of high rain. I don't know of any city that doesn't have enough capacity to meet daily flows. Most can double flows with no problems and most combined sewer systems were put in with the blessing of EPA and Health departments not all that long ago. Now they have to spend more millions to either separate those sewers or to build bigger treatment facilities. Why do you think water and sewage rates are so high and continually going up. Many communities are nearly bankrupting themselves trying to improve flows.

Those billions of gallons they talk about are mostly rain which would have ended up in the streams anyway and come about because of all the parking lots and other human invasions that occur during developement of cities.

I am no George Bush fan, I disagree with most everything he does but not in this case!

When all is said and done I would like to see the spike in income and donations for PIRG after these types of articles show up. Could that be the main motive in scaring the bejeezuz out of people.

[Links r Us]

That PETA slam is kinda a low-blow EZ, do you have a vested $$$ interest in Erie that over-rides old-fashioned common sense and a forward look for Erie's welfare in your/our best interest??:D

Really I think of PIRG as the Ralph Nader of our public water-ways & safe water. I noticed that even Sea Grant is a aid to PIRG --

Dr. Jeffrey Reutter
Ohio Sea Grant & Stone Laboratory Columbus Office
Research Center, 1314 Kinnear Road,
Columbus, OH 43212
Telephone: 614-292-4364

Is there another group that has stepped up to the plate to look out for Erie, if so please post some info...

You know as well as I do that PIRG picked a dandy year for the study to draw attn to Erie's problems ~ if I remember correctly Cleveland's turds where floatin' way out into Erie in the summer of 2004 after the bad storm.

-Think Fish *(for the future)

:)

[ezmarc]

The same thing sets me off when Dead zones and other blown out of proportion topics are brought up. Where is the Voice of reason anyway.

It's still yellow journalismin my mind but maybe our politicians are so jaded by now that that is what it takes.

I do know since I work for a City that we spend millions trying to improve things but that these groups always want more and twist reality to make it sound worse than it really is but never have suggestions on how we can pay for it and even if it does any good after spending the money.

[Links r Us]

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,190 from www.ewg.org for lake erie

EWG Report || Clean Water Report Card: Failing GradesELKEM METALS COMPANY, ASHTABULA COUNTY, LAKE ERIE, Additive Alloys, Not Produced In Blast ... AVON LAKE, CITY OF, AVON LAKE, LAKE ERIE, Sewerage Systems ...
www.ewg.org/reports/reportcard/states/OH.html - 61k - Cached - Similar pages


EWG Report || Clean Water Report Card: Failing GradesDECO-MONROE PLT, MONROE, LAKE ERIE, Cogeneration, 09/20/90, 10/01/94, MI0001848 ... DECO-FERMI-2 PLT, NEWPORT, LAKE ERIE & SWAN CREEK, Cogeneration ...
www.ewg.org/reports/reportcard/states/MI.html - 37k - Cached - Similar pages


EWG Report || Brain Food || Mercury in Seafood/Coal Power PlantsAshtabula River, 24th Street Bridge to Lake Erie, bass-largemouth, 1993. Chagrin River, All waters, bass-rock; bass-smallmouth ...
www.ewg.org/reports/brainfood/advisory/FishAdvOH.html - 23k - Cached - Similar pages


EWG Report || Clean Water Report Card: Failing GradesELKEM Metals COMPANY, ASHTABULA County, LAKE ERIE, Additive Alloys, Not Produced In Blast ... AVON LAKE, City Of, AVON LAKE, LAKE ERIE, Sewerage Systems ...
www.ewg.org/reports/reportcard/ states/OH.html?print_version=1 - 50k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages


EWG Report || Clean Water Report Card: Failing GradesERIE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLAN, ERIE S A, LAKE ERIE, Sewerage Systems, 06/29/92, 10/03/96, PA0026301. UNIVERSITY AREA JT AUTH, BENNER TWP, SPRING CREEK ...
www.ewg.org/reports/reportcard/states/PA.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages


EWG Report || Clean Water Report Card: Failing GradesERIE CO/SOUTHTOWNS SEW TRT FAC, HAMBURG/T/ SD#6, LAKE ERIE, Sewerage Systems, 08/19/85, 10/01/90, NY0095401. ST LAWRENCE REDUCTION PLANT, MASSENA /T/ ...
www.ewg.org/reports/reportcard/states/NY.html - 23k - Cached - Similar pages


EWG Report || Poisoned Playgrounds || Arsenic-Treated Wood... in a volume of water equal to Lake Erie by 26 micrograms per liter - more than twice the Clinton Administration's proposed standard for drinking water. ...
www.ewg.org/reports/poisonedplaygrounds/ch1.html - 19k - Cached - Similar pages


[PDF] The Arsenic IndexFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
the water table: equal to Lake Erie. 22. Percent of market held by 3 manufactures of arsenic treatment compound: 100. 23. Percent of these companies that ...
www.ewg.org/reports/ poisonedplaygrounds/arsenic_factsheet.pdf - Similar pages


EWG in the News || Story ContentLake Erie, one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the country, was on death's doorstep with huge quantities of fish being destroyed by toxic elements. ...
www.ewg.org/news/story.php?id=3935 - 15k - Cached - Similar pages


[PDF] 1 (CERTIFIED TAPE TRANSCRIPT) MACRO INTERNATIONAL, INC. FOCUS ...File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
A PARTICIPANT: Lake Erie. MS. HALVERSON: Lake Erie? Okay. A PARTICIPANT: The ocean. A. PARTICIPANT: The ocean. A. PARTICIPANT: Maybe some mines that ...
www.ewg.org/reports/focuspocus/FDA101700_6pm.pdf - Similar pages

[WLB]

Just keep running your sewers in the lake!
The water in Fremont is not fit to drink( I check it everyday).
The only reason you can drink it in Clyde is because your getting it out of an upground, and even then when your pumping septic tank water out of those creeks, I'll bet that's some quality stuff!
The water in the lake is not fit to swim in most of the summer,
Maumee state park and Port Clinton have high bacteria signs posted most the summer. We have warnings not to eat to much fish out of the lake! Nah, it's not bad!

[ezmarc]

Lake Erie is full of this stuff in huge amounts! It's called DHMO. It may be one of the worst disasters ever and our government is doing nothing about it!
---------------------------------------------
Environmental Impact of Dihydrogen Monoxide
Due in part to its widespread use in industry, Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is involved in many environmental incidents each year. While most are unavoidable given current technology, there can be little doubt that the presence of DHMO in each significantly increases the negative impact to the environment.


Among the many commonly-sited DHMO-related environmental impacts are:

DHMO contributes to global warming and the "Greenhouse Effect", and is one of the so-called "greenhouse gasses."

DHMO is an "enabling component" of acid rain -- in the absence of sufficient quantities of DHMO, acid rain is not a problem.

DHMO is a causative agent in most instances of soil erosion -- sufficiently high levels of DHMO exacerbate the negative effects of soil erosion.

DHMO is present in nearly every creek, stream, pond, river, lake and reservoir in the U.S. and around the world.

Measurable levels of DHMO have been verified in ice samples taken from both the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps.

Recent massive DHMO exposures have lead to the loss of life and destruction of property in California, the Mid-West, the Philippines, and a number of islands in the Caribbean, to name just a few.
Industrial DHMO Dumping
In spite of the recent movement to ban unlawful dumping of hazardous chemicals into waterways in the U.S. and abroad, release of massive quantities of DHMO continues. Industry cannot be held accountable entirely because lawmakers are reluctant to pass legislation to make most forms of dumping of DHMO illegal. Reasons for this could include pressures from corporate leaders, industry lobbyists, and even vested foreign governments. This governmental inaction leading to nearly unregulated dumping may be one of the most overlooked environmental impacts of DHMO.
Meanwhile, federal (EPA) regulations are in place to make illegal the disposal of DHMO in landfills, including those licensed for hazardous waste. Regulations also stipulate that any DHMO appearing in a landfill must be removed. Judging from these laws it appears that the U.S. government recognizes the inherent danger DHMO poses to the environment, at least in certain circumstances.

The U.S. government refuses to ban the production, distribution, and use of DHMO. This inaction may be due to pressures from private interests and corporate-sponsored economists, among many, who predict a DHMO ban could produce disastrous results. Claims include damage to public health and the well-being of the U.S. and world economies.

Fortunately, some industry and governmental leaders are taking the initiative to inform and educate their employees in spite of what the U.S. government's official policy may be. Major employers, such as Sandia National Laboratories, a national security laboratory operated by the Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Co., for the U.S. Department of Energy, have begun notifying their workers of the DHMO issue. With efforts such as those at Sandia, the profligation of DHMO may one day be minimized.

Equally encouraging is the support of environmental organizations, such as the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, an important force in the southern hemisphere promoting "ecological wisdom, social responsibility, appropriate decision-making and non-violence." Notably, a busy high-ranking Member of Parliament there supports a ban on DHMO. This welcome endorsement serves as a reminder to a pre-occupied world that fostering a widespread knowledge of DHMO is crucial.



Read more about it here: http://www.dhmo.org/

[Links r Us]

Heheh ~ Good one!!!

-better keep a close watch on the Great Lake's DHMO cuz the arid thirsty Western States would luv to tap into it n' Chicago already uses GL DHMO to flush it potty leftovers down to the 'Ole Miss to feed those giant katfish!....

:D

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http://www.q-net.net.au/~riordan/Images/Thirsty.GIF

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What can we do as citizens? The best
thing we can do is support legislation
that aims to stop the spread of exotic
aquatic nuisance species, support
funding for improved treatment facilities
that reduce CSO input, act responsibly
by not spreading exotic species, and
utilize smart land use practices that
protect or improve watersheds and
wetlands, minimize shoreline and
streamside development, and reduce
nutrient inputs and runoff. These
practices include protecting vegetation
along streamside setbacks for at least
50 feet, reducing or improving timing of
fertilizer applications, reducing harbor
and nearshore hard structures like
seawalls and jetties, maintaining thickly
vegetated buffer strips and retention
basins adjacent to developed areas,
not overtly clear-cutting areas for
development and monoculture planting,
and even recycling.

For more information contact us:
Fairport Harbor Fish Research Unit

Ohio DNR, Division of Wildlife
1190 High St.
Fairport Harbor, Ohio 44077

Phone: 440-352-4199
Fax: 440-352-4182
E-mail: kevin.kayle@dnr.state.oh.us

Sandusky Fish Research Unit

Ohio DNR, Division of Wildlife
305 E. Shoreline Dr.
Sandusky, Ohio 44870

Phone: 419-625-8062
Fax: 419-625-6272
E-mail: jeff.tyson@dnr.state.oh.us

http://www.dnr.ohio.gov/wildlife/Fishing/fairport/deadzone.htm

:)

[V.P.]

The only way that Lake Erie is dirty now then it was 30-40years ago is if the EPA changed the exceptable level guidelines. Which I know they changed the mercury level guidelines in the nineties.

I can remember fishing the lake in the '80's and the water clearity was usually stained to cloudy. With the introduction of the zebra mussels the water really cleared up.

I have a tough time buying this report.

[Links r Us]

lake water levels are expected to fall by 1.5 to 8 feet by 2100 ... get your push-pole out WLB:)


Summary

As the single largest source of surface fresh water in the world, the Great Lakes region supports a burgeoning economy in the US. While being the linchpin for drinking water, hydroelectric power, commercial shipping, and recreation, the region also houses an amazingly diverse array of plants and wildlife. With scenic lakeshores, unique wildlife, and diverse recreational opportunities drawing millions of tourists annually, problems such as urban sprawl, air and water pollution, and habitat fragmentation are already stressing ecosystems of the Great Lakes region. Global climate change looms as an additional threat on the region�s economy, population and wildlife by changing climate patterns and compounding the negative effects of current environmental problems.

Given the heavy pressure from development on the hundreds of miles of delicate lakeshore and ecosystems, the Great Lakes region is particularly susceptible to the effects of rapid global warming. According to the scenarios used in the National Assessment, scientists expect average temperatures in the Upper Great Lakes region to warm by 2 to 4�C, while precipitation could increase by 25 % by the end of the 21st century. Despite this significant increase in precipitation, lake water levels are expected to fall by 1.5 to 8 feet by 2100 because of the higher temperatures, with serious implications for ecosystems and the economy. Although not necessarily due to global warming, the recent series of unusually warm years is already to blame for a drop of 3.5 feet in water levels for Lakes Huron, Michigan and Erie since 1997, and record low levels are expected later this summer. These lake-level declines from record high levels in the 1980s have caused concern among commercial shippers, hydroelectric companies, and recreational boaters. Fewer cold air outbreaks and less lake-effect snow (especially around Lake Erie and Lake Ontario) may decrease annual snowfall significantly, a trend that has already been observed in the past few years.
Although uncertainties remain, the research conducted through the National Assessment is an important first step in helping policymakers and residents understand the possible impacts of global warming on their region. Identifying risks specific to the people and ecosystems of the Great Lakes will help them make better informed decisions about how to address the problem.

[ezmarc]

This is a picture of the history of the great lakes from an EPA site. Read into it what you will but Ray's forecast seems very possible to me.

http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/atlas/images/big02.gif

Those billions of gallons of water that Perrier turns into billions of dollars in profit for a paltry fee to the State of Michigan is one of my biggest pet peeves. Spending a lot of time in the UP the last few years has, to say the least, raised my concern for this rape of our natural resources by foreign companies.

http://www.consciouschoice.com/2003/cc1608/coverstory1608.html

Between us buying manufactured goods made oversea to buying American bottled water from foreigners it gets depressing doesn't it!

[Links r Us]

I was reading this afternoon while the
Hurry-Cane was blowin' outside & I forgot
to put a link with the above info I posted
from the net ... I know I was 40-50 pages
into Google:eek: :rolleyes:

How's retirement treating you on your 1st
winter of your golden prime-time
years??:D ... I always thought I'd be
down south fishin' in the winter, but I've
come to luv the upnorth season's & the
change of pace w/other varied interests...