Expert Workshop on Managing Groundwater Resources in the Great Lakes Basin: Securing Our Future—Meeting Report
The Program on Water Issues
November 11, 2003
 
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Groundwater is one of the Great Lakes Basin's most important, but under-appreciated natural resources. It provides drinking water for 11.5 million residents in Canada and the US, and is used extensively in industry and agriculture. Groundwater also contributes more than 50 percent of the flow from rivers and streams to the Great Lakes, and plays a pivotal role in sustaining wetlands, freshwater fisheries and other biological resources. Long considered a fairly local issue, there is increasing recognition of the importance of groundwater at the Great Lakes Basin-scale. This has been triggered by proposals for large-scale withdrawals and an increased understanding of the ecological role of by groundwater.

An Expert Workshop on Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin was convened on September 16, 2003 by the Program on Water Issues at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. A wide spectrum of experts and observers was invited to discuss groundwater issues within the context of the Great Lakes Basin. Meeting participants were provided with a Discussion Paper developed by Gerry Galloway and Ralph Pentland, two experts with extensive experience in Great Lakes Basin policy and technical issues. The Discussion Paper, Managing Groundwater Resources in the Great Lakes Basin: Securing Our Future, Draft Vision and Principles (August 2003), provided an overview of relevant technical and policy aspects of groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin, and included a vision for effective management of the resource in the future, and principles to achieve that vision

In the workshop, participants provided the authors of the Discussion Paper with comments on the Paper itself. Much of the focus, however, was placed on getting feedback on the Draft Vision and Principles contained in the Discussion Paper. There was considerable support at the workshop for the overall direction of the Vision, which was:

"Citizens of the Great Lakes Basin—individuals, organizations, industries and their governments—understand the value of groundwater and its vital contribution to the economy and the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem, and, empowered by governments, make responsible decisions about groundwater, sustaining the resource for the benefit of current and future generations."

There was also a considerable degree of consensus concerning the notion that decision-making on groundwater should be carried out at the local level within a framework in which upper levels of government support decision-making through policies, guidelines, funding and information. Detailed comments were received on both the Draft Vision and the Principles and participants identified many of the barriers that need to be addressed for more effective management of groundwater to take place. There was general support for the Program on Water Issues at the Munk Centre continuing to convene a dialogue that would help to build consensus on a management framework for groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin. Specifically, there was support for the Centre developing a discussion paper on the future governance of groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin and hosting a future meeting on the issue with key Great Lakes stakeholders.