Resolution: Development of Operational Hydrodynamic Models for Great Lakes Interconnecting Waterways
Adopted on May 04, 2006

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Whereas, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River provide substantial ecological, recreational and commercial benefits to the United States and Canada and constitute the interconnecting waterway between lakes Huron and Erie; and

Whereas, the Huron-to-Erie Corridor (HEC) is the source for drinking water supplies to more than six million U.S. and Canadian citizens and require extraordinary protection from intentional or non-intentional releases of harmful agents, including petroleum products, hazardous and toxic chemicals and radiological products; and

Whereas, the HEC, and Lake St. Clair in particular, includes important fish and wildlife habitat that has suffered from numerous human-related impacts, including nonpoint source pollution, combined and sanitary sewer overflows, beach closures, shoreline modifications, industrial discharges, contaminated sediments, and exotic species introductions; and

Whereas, recent scientific investigations indicate that the St. Clair River outlet from Lake Huron has enlarged over the last 50 years, which may have contributed to a lowering of 30 centimeters or more throughout lakes Michigan and Huron, which needs to be substantiated by further investigations; and

Whereas, protection and restoration of the critical binational HEC system, lying at the heart of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system, justifies application of the best technological tools available, including continuously operating real-time water quality, meteorologic and hydraulic monitoring sensors coupled with state-of-the-art predictive models; and

Whereas, an array of U.S. and Canadian stakeholders are advancing initiatives to protect and restore the HEC, including development of a real-time monitoring system to safeguard drinking water supplies that are threatened by spills of hazardous substances from chemical industries and other sources adjacent to the waterway; and

Whereas, the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS), a regional subsystem of the U.S. Integrated Oceans Observing System (IOOS), has coordinated a comprehensive plan with stakeholders in the HEC to develop, calibrate and implement a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model for the HEC that would be run on a continuous basis to provide real-time information to public officials; and

Whereas, a continuously-operating three-dimensional hydrodynamic model would support drinking water protection programs, beach management activities, recreational boating safety and improved forecasting of conveyance for commercial navigation applications; and

Whereas, this integrated monitoring and modeling plan can be a prototype for customized continuous monitoring/modeling for the other binational interconnecting waterways of the St. Marys River, Niagara River/Welland Canal system and St. Lawrence Rivers.

Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Great Lakes Commission advocates that the U.S. Congress provide $4 million over the next two fiscal years to develop, test and implement a continuously-operating three-dimensional model for the binational interconnecting waterway of the Huron-to-Erie Corridor; and

Be It Finally Resolved, that the Great Lakes Commission strongly encourages U.S. and Canadian federal and state/provincial agencies, local jurisdictions and other partners with management responsibilities for the Huron-to-Erie Corridor to engage in and support the planning, testing and implementation of these important tools.

Adopted by the Great Lakes Commission at its Semiannual Meeting, May 04, 2006, in Sheboygan, Wis.