Surveys seek to fill critical data gaps on 2017 High Water Event
The IJC’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee would like to thank those marinas and yacht clubs as well as municipal and industrial water users who completed the recent survey with LURA Consulting regarding high water impacts during 2017. Your contributions are appreciated! The information collected through the survey will help the GLAM Committee address critical data gaps needed to understand whether the outflow regulation plan is working as expected.
The survey is now closed.
If you represent a marina, yacht club or municipal and industrial water use facility and did not have a chance to complete the survey during the reporting period or you would like more information on the project, please contact the GLAM committee and a copy of the survey questions will be sent to you. While the responses received after the closing date will not be included in the contractor report from LURA Consulting, they will be used by the GLAM Committee in its longer-term analysis.
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The IJC’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management (GLAM) Committee is reaching out to marinas and yacht clubs, as well as municipal and industrial water users to better understand how they were impacted by high water during 2017.
Impacts from the 2017 high water event on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River were widespread and in some cases, continue to be felt by those living and working directly along the shoreline. The GLAM Committee’s recent 2017 report summarized considerable information on observed impacts throughout the system while also highlighting the importance of gathering additional impact data to fill critical gaps needed to understand whether the outflow regulation plan is working as expected. The GLAM Committee report identified a number of areas where further information on Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River impacts would be beneficial. Two specific examples include:
- Recreational boating, specifically marinas and yacht clubs; and
- Municipal and industrial water use (specifically those directly influenced by Lake Ontario or St. Lawrence River water levels).
To help gather additional information for these two sectors, the GLAM Committee is currently working with LURA Consulting to administer two separate surveys (one for marinas and yacht clubs, one for municipal and industrial facilities) exploring the impacts experienced as a result of the high water levels in 2017 and associated adaptive responses. The information from the surveys will be used by the GLAM Committee as part of its long-term efforts to better understand high water impacts and improve existing models used to predict such impacts.
LURA Consulting has developed an extensive list of facilities and has been reaching out through email and letters over the past few weeks to promote the survey. This is an important opportunity to gather relevant impact information. If you are involved in the operation of a marina, yacht club, or municipal/industrial water use facility, you are encouraged to respond to the survey by March 22nd, 2019 (one response per facility please). If you have not been contacted about the survey and would like to respond, or if you have any questions about the project, please contact the GLAM Committee.