Great Lakes Compact
After nearly five years of negotiation, the Great Lakes U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers have endorsed precedent-setting agreements to protect and conserve the Great Lakes.
 The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact (known as "the Compact") and its companion bi-national agreement together implement the Great Lakes Charter Annex signed by the parties in 2001. The agreements provide the most comprehensive water use protections for the Great Lakes in the last century.
In fall 2008, the Compact was ratified by the Great Lakes states and territories, passed by Congress, and signed into law.
The enforceability of the Compact is what sets this agreement apart from other Great Lakes agreements.
The Compact
For the first time in the Great Lakes basin, the Compact:
- considers the Great Lakes, their tributaries, and groundwater to be one ecosystem subject to the same environmental standard;
- establishes protection of the ecosystem and the economies that depend on the Great Lakes as a priority everywhere in the basin;
- ensures that every Great Lakes state and territory will have the same set of rational protections.
The Compact protects the Great Lakes from harm by implementing a strong and effective water management program. These agreements close the door on exporting our Great Lakes waters by cargo tankers to the four corners of the world.
They also put our own house in order by protecting us from unwise water use in the basin. The Compact provides the region with an opportunity to address all water uses in a comprehensive and ground breaking way. The Compact would allow the Great Lakes region to maintain control over Great Lakes water in the face of growing demand from across the nation and the world.
The Compact guarantees the long-term protection and sound management of Great Lakes water, ensuring that they are protected for generations to come.
How You Can Help
Ohio’s Great Lakes Advisory Board, as established by Ohio House Bill 416, is developing recommendations for the Ohio General Assembly that would implement the Compact. We need your input!
Ohio Department of Natural Resources has set up a website for the public to keep track of the recommendations, as well as a way to weigh-in on them. For details and to comment, click here.
| Understanding the Great Lakes Compact |
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