Courtesy MLive
West Michigan residents concerned about sinking Great Lakes water levels will get a chance to share their views this week when U.S. and Canadian officials studying the issue visit Muskegon.
The International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canadian panel that advises the two nations on Great Lakes issues, is studying water levels in lakes Michigan, Huron, Superior and Erie. A committee working on the IJC’s International Upper Great Lakes Study will host a public hearing on lake levels Sunday, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 W. Shoreline.
“We want to hear lots of people come out and squawk at this public meeting,” said John Nevin, an IJC spokesman. “We want to hear what this issue means to people when the water is really high or really low.”
IJC officials might get an earful.
Lake Michigan’s water level has dropped nearly four feet since 1997, according to federal data. The low lake level has widened beaches but created safety hazards for recreational boaters and caused freighters to run aground in Muskegon, Grand Haven and other ports around the lake.
On the flip side, record-high lake levels in 1986 caused severe beach erosion that sent several Grand Haven cottages tumbling into the lake.
The IJC study is focused on two issues: Whether dredging in the St. Clair River over the past century has caused excessive lowering of water levels in lakes Michigan and Huron; and if the volume of water flowing out of Lake Superior daily through control structures in the St. Marys River should be adjusted to account for below-average precipitation and global warming, which some studies suggest could lower lake levels by several feet over the next century.
The study could prompt changes, such as the construction of a water control structure in the St. Clair River, that would affect water levels in lakes Michigan and Huron, said Gene Stakhiv, co-chair of the International Upper Lakes Study Board.
“There are a whole range of changes in the regulation of flow and physical structures in the (Great Lakes) system that could help us control water levels,” Stakhiv said. “But we don’t know yet if there is a need for that.”
A growing chorus of critics — from scientists and shoreline property owners in Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, to marina owners and shipping interests — want the U.S. and Canadian governments to plug what amounts to an unnaturally large drain hole in the St. Clair River.
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