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.

January 24, 2024

Presentation on Canada1Water (Slides)

Speaker:

    • Hazen Russell, Sedimentologist, Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada

January 24, 2024

Global Center for Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Transboundary Waters (Slides)

Speaker:

    • Professor Drew Gronewold; University of Michigan; Lead Investigator

January 24, 2024

Comparison of Wisconsin Water Withdrawals to USGS National Water Use Estimates from 2011 to 2020 (Slides--Revised 2/7/24)

Speaker:

    • William Dougherty, Hydrogeologist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

January 24, 2024

USGS National Activities

Speakers:

    • Ken Belitz; Research Hydrologist, Water Mission Area--National hydrogeologic Framework
    • Paul Stackelberg; Hydrologist, Water Mission Area--Nationwide Groundwater Quality Prediction (Slides)
    • Bruce Lindsey; Groundwater Status and Trends Coordinator, Water Mission Area--National groundwater monitoring activities related to PFAS (Slides)

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

Presentation by Jim Nicholas, Nicholas-H2O

Presentation by Tom Crane, Great Lakes Commission

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 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.  

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