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By Jill Jedlicka - July 3, 2020
Millions of New Yorkers live within the Great Lakes basin, the largest freshwater system on the planet. Over 40% of our land area lies within the Great Lakes Basin.
Approximately 400 miles of Great Lakes coastline and nearly 560 trillion gallons of fresh water surround New York State, which provides drinking water for millions of people.
According to a recent report, New York’s Great Lakes are in serious trouble.
Under the commitment of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the U.S. and Canadian governments released the “State of the Great Lakes Report” (SOGL). The conclusions minimize the ongoing suffering and degradation of our lower Great Lakes in New York.
In what should be called “A Tale of Two Great Lakes Regions,” the SOGL gives a misleading overall assessment that Great Lakes conditions are “Fair and Unchanging” – but look closer, and this does not accurately represent the stressors and growing challenges impacting our state’s Great Lakes.
The words “poor” and “deteriorating” dominate many of the indicators for our lakes.
Lakes Erie and Ontario continue to stagnate, and even backslide, on water quality and ecological health indicators. Invasive species, harmful algal blooms and urban/agricultural pollutants are taking a huge toll on our lakes. Many New York residents still cannot safely fish or swim in our local waterways.
Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and Citizens Campaign for the Environment have released an open letter to our region’s elected representatives asking for commitment to aggressive action to save New York’s Great Lakes. This call to action needs to be repeated by the millions of citizens in our Great Lakes communities.
New York has the ability to strategically leverage our strengths and national leadership in the Great Lakes, but only if our leaders and communities are willing to regionally coordinate around these issues.
We can lead the nation on Great Lakes climate resiliency solutions and living infrastructure protections. We can lead on Great Lakes drinking water security, water equity and environmental justice.
We can lead on implementation of regional ecosystem based management decisions and coordination. We can lead on water system management and research.
The largest freshwater system in the world also needs the largest coordinated effort to ensure its health and survival. Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and our nonprofit partners are prepared to be leaders and voices for the community to protect our most valuable asset: fresh water.
Jill Jedlicka is executive director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper.