Science and Research
The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers are working together to strengthen the scientific basis for water management decision making.
The Regional Body and Compact Council have jointly adopted a Science Strategy (en français) that describes their scientific research priorities. They continually seek the best science and data, and each year host a session at the International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) meeting to share ideas and information.
Regional Body and Compact Council Science Strategy
Stratégie scientifique du Conseil régional et du Conseil du Pacte
The science strategy of the Regional Body and Compact Council includes a focus area for each of the next three years.
2020 – Estimating consumptive use
2021 – Great Lakes water quantity and improving measurement and estimation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence water budget components
2022 – Water conservation and water use efficiency in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region
The Regional Body and Compact Council encourage researchers to consider this science strategy as they pursue their research agendas, and share findings with the secretariat at gsgp@gsgp.org.
June 14, 2023
Update on the IJC Science Advisory Group's Science Strategy
Speaker:
-
Matthew Child, Physical Scientist, International Joint Commission
June 13, 2023
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission Study Update
Speakers:
- Esteban Chiriboga; Environmental Specialist, Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission
June 13, 2023
USGS Presentation and Discussion on water use study; Bottled Water Study
Speaker:
- Kurt McCoy; Chief--Water Budget Branch, US Geological Survey
December 15, 2022
U.S. Geological Survey--Enhanced Water Use Information (Slides)
Speakers:
- Jaime Painter; Geographer, Water Use Program Manager, and Water Budget Program Manager, U.S. Geological Survey
December 14, 2022
About the Alliance for Water Efficiency, the Importance of Water Efficiency in the Great Lakes Region, and the Role of States and Provinces
Speaker:
- Ron Burke; CEO, Alliance for Water Efficiency
December 14, 2022
Assessing Drivers of Municipal Water Use Trends in the Great Lakes Region (Slides)
Speakers:
- Hannah Paulson; J. Phillip Keillor Fellow, University of Wisconsin Sea Grant;
- James Polidori, Program Specialist, Great Lakes Commission
June 14, 2022
American Water Works Association Water Audits Overview
Speaker:
- John H. Van Arsdel, Vice President, M.E. Simpson Company, Inc.; Illinois AWWA Board of Directors (2020-2023) (Slides)
December 8, 2021
Webinars on USGS and Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Activities
Speakers:
- Jaime Painter, Geographer, Water Use Program Manager, and Water Budget Program Manager, U.S. Geological Survey (Slides)
- Jen Vanator, Great Lakes Program Coordinator, Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission
April 6, 2021
Webinar on Water Quantity and Water Budgets.
Speakers:
- Richard Niswonger, Research Hydrologist – U.S. Geological Survey
- Martha Nielson, Hydrologist, Groundwater and watershed modeling team U.S. Geological Survey--Upper Midwest Water Science Center
- Alain N. Rousseau, Professor at Québec’s National Institute for Scientific Research (Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, INRS)
December 15, 2020
Webinar on Consumptive Uses - View Recording
Speaker:
- Esteban Chiriboga, Environmental Specialist – Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission
November 4, 2020
Webinar on Consumptive Uses - View Recording
Speakers:
- Paul Martin, President, Aqua Insight, Inc. (Ontario).
- John Balay, Manager, Planning and Operations, Susquehanna River Basin Commission.
- Silivio José Gumiere, Professor, Laval University, Agriculture and Food Dept.
- Robert Smail, Socio-Economic Research Scientist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The Regional Body and Compact Council have created a Science Team of State and Provincial experts. The team meets annually to discuss Science Strategy implementation and share best practices.
September 14-15, 2019 Meeting of the Science team
Presentation by Drew Gronewold, University of Michigan
At least every five years the Regional Body and Compact Council perform a comprehensive cumulative impact assessment of withdrawals, diversions and consumptive uses. 
Cumulative Impact Assessment 2016-2020 (June 15, 2023)
Cumulative Impact Assessment 2011-2015 (December 8, 2017)
Cumulative Impact Assessment 2006-2010 (December 4, 2013)
Additional assessments may be performed from time to time, and can be found at the end of the annual water use reports created by the Great Lakes Commission, which can be found at https://waterusedata.glc.org/annualreports.php
The Regional Body and Compact Council periodically commission reports to improve the understanding of Basin waters and how they are used.
The Regional Body regularly hosts a session at the annual conference of the International Association for Great Lakes Research. An overview of presentations made at past sessions can be found here.