According to an annual report by the Great Lakes Commission, 37.5 billion gallons of water were withdrawn per day from the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin in 2021 -- a 1% decrease from the amount withdrawn in 2020.
Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller, a member of the Great Lakes Commission, has been a longtime advocate of guarding the Great Lakes against diversion of this precious natural resource.
“This report shows that efforts of the Great Lakes compact and the many Great Lakes advocates are helping to protect our magnificent Great Lakes, not only water quality but also water quantity,” Miller said. “We must always be on guard against other areas that may want to divert water out of the Great Lakes basin, areas that are hot, dry and thirsty. Our fresh water resources will become more important, especially economically to our region, as the world’s climate continues to change.”
The Great Lakes-St Lawrence River basin is the world’s largest fresh surface water system -- spanning an area of almost 290,000 square miles. On average, 156 million more gallons of water per day were actually diverted into the basin, than diverted out.
Thermoelectric power production (71%), public water supply (14%), and industrial facilities (10%) were the primary water use sectors. Most of it is returned to the basin.
“This is good news from the Great Lakes Commission. The commission does great work on behalf of the residents of the Great Lakes basin,” said Miller. “This report is an excellent example of that work as this annual report shows that the amount of water being withdrawn from the Great Lakes basin remained virtually stable, with actually a very slight decrease. This type of data tracking is important.”
The bi-national Great Lakes Commission is composed of representatives from the eight U.S. states that border the lakes, plus the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
To view a fact sheet summarizing the 2021 report, go to https://www.glc.org/wp-content/uploads/WaterUseDB-FactSheet-20230111.pdf. To read the entire report, visit waterusedata.glc.org.
Original source can be found here.
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