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A new agreement for action

Broadcast Date: Nov. 18, 1987

Is there a "hot spot" near you? These 42 polluted areas around the Great Lakes have been targeted for cleanup under a new Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States. It's just one highlight of a plan to improve the Great Lakes, where up to 1,000 chemicals — many of them toxic — have been identified in the water. The CBC reports from Toledo, Ohio, where the agreement was signed.

Besides identifying the hot spots, the new agreement — which replaces older ones signed in 1972 and 1978 — sets a timetable for action, widens the scope for pollution studies, and calls for more public input. Some critics say it's all talk and no action, and that citizens must pressure their governments to ensure real progress. Even with the best of intentions, it could be years before significant cleanup is achieved.

A new agreement for action

• The first Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) was signed between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa in 1972.
• The agreement also covered the parts of the St. Lawrence River shared by the two countries.
• Upon its signing, Trudeau said: "The agreement... promises to restore to a wholesome condition an immense area which, through greed and indifference, has been permitted to deteriorate disgracefully."

• The 1972 agreement called for everyone — governments, industry, agriculture and the people of the United States and Canada — to pitch in to improve the water and environment of the Great Lakes.
• Environment Canada was charged with leading Canada's efforts on the agreement; in the United States that responsibility fell to the Environmental Protection Agency. The International Joint Commission monitors their progress.

• An update to the GLWQA in 1978 demanded action on persistent toxic materials that were being discharged into the Lakes. It also recognized the interconnected nature of the Great Lakes ecosystem and called for an integrated approach.
• The 1987 protocol was an amendment to the existing agreement.
• It placed a new emphasis on pollution from land runoff, from airborne particles and from sediments under the water — a recognition that water pollution comes from many sources.

• Of the 42 "hot spots" — identified as "Areas of Concern" (AOCs) in the 1987 agreement — 17 were in Ontario. A 43rd was added later.
• Among the Canadian hot spots were four sites on Lake Superior, four on Lake Ontario, three on Lake Huron, and one on Lake Erie. Two were on Canadian rivers, and three were joint Canada-U.S. river sites.

• Under the protocol, a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) was devised for each AOC. For example, in Thunder Bay on Lake Superior, federal and provincial authorities worked with local citizens, environmental groups, academia, industry and others. Together they defined the pollution problems, identified solutions, developed implementation plans and began work on carrying out the plan and monitoring their progress.

• As of 2004 just two of the 43 spots have been delisted as AOCs. They are Collingwood Harbour and Severn Sound, both on Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.
• Two more spots — Spanish Harbour on the North Channel of Lake Huron and Presque Isle Bay on the U.S. side of Lake Erie — are designated "in recovery."

A new agreement for action

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: Nov. 18, 1987

Host: Knowlton Nash
Reporter: Ian Hanomansing

Duration: 2:09

Last updated:
July 27, 2004