“State of the Great Lakes” Notes –Point Form Notes Needed

John Zhang

05/31/21

Assessing Great Lakes

 Importance of Great Lakes
- Contains 20% of fresh water supply of the world
- Ecologically diverse ecosystem-
- Provide water source for millions of Canadians and Americans
- Important to the economy of Canada and US (Manufacturing, transportation, farming,
tourism)
 The Great Lake water quality agreement
- Signed by both Canadian and US government
- To restore and protect the water quality and ecosystem.
 Assessments of the Great Lake
- The Canadian and US government cooperatives with various partners
- A seat of 9 indicator and 45 sciences based sub-indicator.
- To assess and monitor the health of the ecosystem in the Great Lake.
- Two indicators: Trend & Status
 Trend is defined with Deteriorating, Unchanging, or Improving
 Status is defined with Good, Fair, Poor, or Undetermined
 Great Lake assessments can help the government identify current and emerging challenges.
- Such as water quality and ecosystem health –
- Assessments also evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs and policies-
- Also inform the public to provide support the Great Lak.

Drinking Water Assessment

 The status of treated drinking water is good and unchanging o Water from them Great Lakes
continue to be high quality.
 Both Ontario and U.S. agency have different ways of analyzing the quality of drinking water
 Drinking water tests meets the Ontario drinking water quality standards 99.8% of the time.

Beaches Assessment
 The overall status of beaches is good and unchanging.
 Around 1000 beaches are monitored
 - For fecal bacteria: E. Coli
- Could be from overflow from wastewater treatment plants.
- Runoff from land from heavy rainfall
- Improper working septic system
 From 2015-2017, the percent of days the beach met the health requirement for swimming is 82%
- Lake Erie and Lake Ontario showed an increase in the number of days beach's open and safe
for swimming.
- The monitored U.S. beaches had an average of 92% days of opening and safe to swim.

Fish Consumption Assessment

 The status of fish contaminants in the edible fish is fair and unchanging.
- The fish indicator is based on the analysis of the fish fillet.
- Over the last 40 years, many contaminants in fish fillet have drastically decreased.
 The main consumption restrictions of Great Lake fish are elevated PCBs and mercury
concentration o PCBs drive most fish consumption advisories in both Canada and U.S.
- PCB level in fish fillet have decreased by 90% for some species in some lakes.
- Concentrations are still above consumption standards.
- Unrestricted consumption of Great Lakes is not yet possible.
- Has a great impact on communities that relies on fish?
 Changes of PCB centration over the last 10 years
- Decreased in Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan
- Unchanged in Lake Superior, Huron, and Erie
 Mercury level in fish fillet also decreased overall in the past 40 years.
 There might be stressors like invasive species and climate shifts to complicate the cycling of
contaminants and the levels of contaminants in fish.

Toxic Chemical Assessment

 The assessment is fair and unchanging to improving\
- In the past 40 years, the level of PCB and mercury decreased.
- PBDEs has a slower decline.
 The long-term trend of chemical is declining, but in the past 10 years, it has not changed.
 Some compound concentration still exceeds ecosystem-based objective.
 Highly contaminated sediments in AOC still acts as the major source of contamination.
 PCBs and other chemical can be carried by air currents outside the basin of the Great lakes.
Atmospherically deposition will also remain a contaminant to the Great Lakes.

Habitat and Species Assessment

 The indicator is fair and unchanging.
 - The assessment includes the Great Lakes coastal wetlands and components of the offshore
aquatic food web.
 Some coastal wetlands have benefited from certain restoration and protection.
- Such as Lake Michigan, superior, and Huron
- Lake Erie and Ontario continue to degrade.
- Elimination of invasive species can help the deterioration.
 A new plan implemented by Ontario allows for more natural water level fluctuate pattern.
 European invasive species remains a concern for the Great Lake coastal wetlands.
- Ex. Common reed, frog bit and water chestnut
 Aquatic food web is made from little plants to animals to predatory fish.
- Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton and are responsive to changes in the phytoplankton
community.
 There has been a decrease in both phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass.
- The species communities have adapted to low nutrient conditions.
- Subsequently changes the food available to predator fish.
 Lake Superior and Ontario are assessed as good and unchanging.
 Diporeia as a severe decline in all lakes expect for Lake Superior.
 Zooplankton and phytoplankton are important source of food for prey fish.
 Prey fish community is considered as fair.
- Based on the diversity and the proportion of the native predatory fish
- A good balance between the prey and the predatory fish is important for a sustainable Great
Lake fishery

Nutrient and Algae Assessment

 The nutrients and algae indicator are assessed as fair and unchanging.
- In the 1980-90's basin wide restoration efforts were successful in reducing high level of
nutrients that were forming algal blooms, nuisance algae, and hypoxic areas.
 A certain level of nutrient is needed to support a healthy aquatic food web.
- Only Lake Superior's offshore phosphorus concentration is rated good.
- Offshore region of Lake Michigan, Ontario and Huron have nutrient concentration lower
than ecosystem objective.
 High nutrient concentration can lead to formation of harmful algal blooms or nuisance algae.
- HABs can include Cyanobacteria which produces toxin such as microcystin impact drying
water safety.
 Decomposition of large number of algae can cause hypoxic zones and suffocate aquatic
organism.
 Warmer water temperature, higher frequency and intensity of precipitation events and invasive
species are factors in increasing harmful effect to the lakes.
Invasive Species Assessment
 The invasive species indicator shows a poor and deteriorating evaluation.
 The indicator highlights that there are many negative impacts to the Great Lakes caused by
invasive species and continues to affect biological communities.
 Over 185 aquatics non-native species have established.
 Have a huge success in reducing the introduction of invasive species.
 At least 30% of the aquatic non-native species in the Great Lakes impact environmental or socio
economic.
 Zebra and quagga mussels are the two prominent invasive species in the Great Lakes.

Groundwater Assessment
 The ground indicator shows fair, but the trend is undetermined.
- The concentration of nitrate and chloride are used to assess the regional groundwater quality.
 Generally, lakes near areas of highly development is rated as fair and lakes near low development
is rated as good.
 Further understanding of the impact of contaminated water is needed.

Watershed Impacts and Climate Trend Assessment

 The overall rating is fair and unchanging.
 The northern lakes basin remains largely undeveloped.
 Waters quality around the urban areas is more likely to be impaired.
 Higher tributary can impact water quality by increasing gag the delivery of contaminants.
 Increase in forest cover improves water quality.
- Key role in stabilizing soil and reduce runoffs.
- Much less forest in the southern part
 Long term data shows basin wide increases in precipitation, surface water temperature and
reduction for Great Lakes ice cover.
 It is still difficult to determine if water level changes are natural climatic variability or long-term
trends.
 Shift in climate can affect Great Lakes habitats (Spawn fish species, quality of coastal wetlands)
 Lake Superior have good and unchanging conditions.
- A good source of high-quality drinking water
- Provide beach for recreational uses.
- Low toxin level
 Lake Michigan is in fair and unchanging status.
- High water level in 2014-17 resulted in erosion of wetland vegetation from marshes.
- The loss of habitat connectivity between tributaries and lakes is impacting native fish.
- Invasive species like Sea lamprey causes harm to predatory fish.
 Lake Erie is in poor condition and unchanging.
- An increase in number of days for open beach and safe for swimming
- Harmful algal bloom continues to a problem.
- Excessive growth of Cladophora impacts the eastern basin of the lake.