News

Great Lakes Commission releases report on uses of Great Lakes water in 2019

Dec 17, 2020 | News and Announcements

Ann Arbor, MI – The Great Lakes Commission released a report detailing the uses of Great Lakes water in 2019. The Annual Report of the Great Lakes Regional Water Use Database includes information on withdrawals, diversions, and consumptive uses by each of the eight states and two provinces in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin. According to the report, 38.9 billion gallons of water per day were withdrawn from the basin in 2019, an overall decrease in water use from 2018.

For more than 30 years, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River states and provinces have submitted water use data to the Great Lakes Commission to support implementation of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. Each year, the GLC compiles and summarizes these datasets into an annual report. The 2019 report was published during the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Compact Council meeting on December 8.

James Clift, Great Lakes Commissioner and designated chair of the Regional Body for Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, says the database and report highlight the dual regional commitments to conserving water resources and promoting sustainable economic development.

“More than 30 million people in the Great Lakes basin rely on the lakes for drinking water, jobs, industry and more.” Clift said. “The water use data published annually by the Great Lakes Commission helps ensure regional decision-makers are managing our water resources responsibly for all the basin’s residents.”

To read the report, visit waterusedata.glc.org.


The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Sharon M. Jackson, Deputy General Counsel for Governor Eric J. Holcomb of Indiana, is a binational government agency established in 1955 to protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. Its membership includes leaders from the eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin. The GLC recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. Learn more at www.glc.org.

Contact

For media inquiries, please contact Beth Wanamaker, [email protected].

Recent GLC News

Upcoming GLC Events

There are no upcoming events.
View GLC Calendar

Archives