Conclusion

The Parties responded quickly to the Commission's request to report on the three desired outcomes of Drinkability, Fishability and Swimmability. They brought together the available information on these indicators and reported their findings at SOLEC 2000. The Commission continues to be encouraged by the work of the Parties through SOLEC, and by their ongoing efforts to develop a set of indicators that will help decision-making for the Great Lakes and record the progress being made. Expanding indicator development and reporting on additional desired outcomes will require reliable data and accessible information. The Parties, however, are limited by the data available to them from monitoring programs, by the difficulty of compiling meaningful information from disparate data sets and the need to adequately fund action on these three core indicators. The Parties' must increase support for the indicator process so that investments in restoration and protection can be better focused and progress toward restoration may be more completely and clearly conveyed to the public.