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Spotlight on Superior

Broadcast Date: Oct. 1, 1991

Lake Superior: of all the Great Lakes it's the largest, the coldest, the deepest — and the cleanest. The International Joint Commission wants to keep it that way, so it's launching a pilot project that bans new factories on Superior and phases out existing polluters. But, a CBC reporter learns, the plan has critics on both sides. Industry says zero discharge isn't possible, and environmentalists say governments aren't honouring the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Spotlight on Superior

• Titled "A Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior Basin," the pilot project for Superior was an effort of the federal governments of the United States and Canada, the province of Ontario and the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• Under the plan, Lake Superior became a test area that would help the International Joint Commission determine whether stricter regulations would work for the rest of the Great Lakes.

• Lake Superior made a good candidate for such a test because it is less populated, less developed and less polluted than the other lakes.
• Under the project, governments were charged with taking an inventory of wildlife habitats in the lake. They also had to continue their efforts to reclaim habitats in the seven Areas of Concern around the lake.

• The 11th Biennial Report of the International Joint Commission, published in 2002, warned that funding reductions in the United States threatened the continuation of the project. It said: "Because available funds for the Lake Superior Binational Program have been substantially reduced, the zero discharge program may be in jeopardy, and the potential capacity of the Lake Superior Binational Program may not be fully realized."

• In 1968 Fisheries and Oceans Canada set up the Experimental Lakes Area in Northern Ontario midway between Kenora and Dryden. This "natural laboratory" allows scientists to study how pollutants affect lakes and streams and how ecosystems and wildlife respond.
• The study area consists of 58 lakes and an all-season field station.
• Only a few lakes are under study at any given time. After studies are completed the lakes are given time to return to their natural condition.

• Researchers have used these lakes to study eutrophication, acid rain, pollution by heavy metals, hydroelectric flooding and toxic contaminants.
• Researchers also study biological manipulation to see how the removal or addition of one species in a lake affects the ecosystem as a whole. For example, a 1996 study that removed aquatic grasses from the shoreline demonstrated a dramatic impact on fish populations.

Spotlight on Superior

Medium: Television

Program: CBC at Six

Broadcast Date: Oct. 1, 1991

Guest(s): Burkhard Mausberg, Jim McQuarrie, William Reilly

Reporter: Lisa Papas

Duration: 1:43

Last updated:
July 26, 2004