Ann Arbor, Michigan –  A report released by the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) found that 35.4 billion gallons of water per day were withdrawn from the Great Lakes basin in 2023, representing about a 13% decrease from 2022 withdrawals. According to the 2023 Annual Report of the Great Lakes Regional Water Use Database, just over 5% of the total reported water withdrawn was consumed or otherwise lost from the basin.

“The Great Lakes Commission provides a critical service to the region by reporting how and where our Great Lakes water is being used,” said GLC Chair Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. “With storm events and other effects of the weather increasing, we need to know the current status of our water to ensure abundant clean water resources for future generations.”

The report found that thermoelectric power production (once-through cooling), public water supply, and industrial use were the primary water use sectors. Considering both consumptive uses and diversions, the basin lost a total of 545 million gallons of water per day in 2023; by comparison, the basin gained 819 million gallons per day in 2022. This change is due to a decrease in the amount of water moved from the Hudson Bay watershed into the Lake Superior basin through the Long Lac and Ogoki diversions in northern Ontario.

The report’s findings were shared at the December meeting of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Compact Council. Since 1988, the eight states and two provinces in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin have submitted water use data to the GLC, which compiles and summarizes these datasets into an annual report.

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

The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 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.