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The Moses-Saunders Power Dam on the Saint Lawrence River helps regulate the water levels of Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River.
(Wikimedia Creative Commons 2.0 | ceedub13)
An international commission with jurisdiction over waters along the border between the United States and Canada has approved a plan that will allow a greater fluctuation in Lake Ontario water levels in order to aid coastal wetlands.
On Thursday, Dec. 8, the International Joint Commission signed an order to approve Plan 2014, which will regulate flow through the Moses-Saunders Power Dam on the St. Lawrence River between Massena, N.Y. and Cornwall, Ontario.
The dam is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway and helps regulate the water levels of Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River.
The plan will "restore the health and diversity of coastal wetlands, perform better under changing climate conditions and continue to protect against extreme high and low water levels," said Lana Pollack, IJC U.S. section chair.
Both the U.S. and Canadian governments agreed to the plan, said the IJC. Implementation will begin in January.
Developing the plan took 16 years and cost $20 million in research. It replaces an existing plan dating to 1958, which has "unnaturally compressed water levels."
Pollack said the goal is to "mimic" a natural system that was changed during creation of the seaway in the 1950s. Since the series of locks and canals that connect oceangoing ships to the Great Lakes was built, there's been a "thinning of ecological robustness" in Lake Ontario and upper St. Lawrence River.
"It's not higher or lower (levels) this plan is trying to achieve," she said, but rather "the highs and lows more naturally associated with what nature intended."
The plan has been opposed among residents along New York's northern Lake Ontario shoreline over the potential for flooding and coastal erosion.
"We're very sensitive to the feelings of that region," she said. But "our obligation is to create a balanced plan that meets the needs of all interests."
The IJC says more naturally-fluctuating levels will help restore 64,000 acres of coastal wetlands, improve fish & wildlife habitat, extend the recreational boating season, aid navigation and increase hydropower energy production at the
Ontario Power Generation, New York Power Authority and Hydro-Quebec plants.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Great Lakes are currently in a period of seasonal water level decline. As of Dec. 2, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie had fallen four inches over the last 30 days.
Lake Erie is one inch above its level at this time last year and Lake Ontario is two inches below last year's level. The Army Corps weekly forecast calls for all lakes except Ontario to continue their seasonal decline over the next month.
Lake Ontario is projected to rise an inch during the next 30 days.
The IJC said the new plan would result in higher autumn levels on Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River in two out of three years and lower summer water levels in some years. The IJC says there is greater variability in lower St. Lawrence levels than on Lake Ontario because of Ottawa River inflow.