New York behind on Great Lakes compact

A five-year agreement to protect water resources in the Great Lakes region is at its halfway point.  And some experts say New York should be concerned about what other states are doing. 

The National Wildlife Federation released a report Tuesday on how well the states are doing in meeting the goals of the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River Basin Water compact. 

Sara Gosman is author of the report.  She says the Compact is supposed to prevent water diversions and excessive water withdrawals from the Great Lakes.    She says each state should have created a water conservation program to start regulating water usage.   But the program for New York is still awaiting Governor Cuomo’s signature…

Because the state waited for that process, the state does not have a conservation program in place.  And the deadline for that program to be in place was 2010.  So, one of the things that I discuss in the report is that New York needs to move fast now to get its conservation program in place.

Gosman says the guidelines in the New York program are consistent with the Great Lakes Compact.   That’s in contrast to some other states that she says are openly ignoring the Compact.  A company under New York’s rules would face regulation if it wanted to take 100-thousand gallons of water a day—but in Ohio, a company could take 3-times that much before facing  regulation. 

Kristy Meyer is with the Ohio Environmental Council.  She says massive water withdrawals are bad for Ohio’s algae-clogged shoreline.  And that could be bad for the shoreline in Northern New York.

As we see more and more withdrawals that are uncontrolled in Ohio, it could mean more harmful algal blooms coming down your way. It could also mean less water for your hydropower and so forth…

The National Wildlife Federation says other states could sue Ohio to force compliance with the Compact—because one state could affect the environment and economy of the entire region.