View of Lake Memphremagog from Owls Head mountain

IJC review of nutrient loading and impacts in lakes Champlain and Memphremagog reaches half-way mark

Date

The International Joint Commission (IJC) has submitted its interim report to the Governments of Canada and the United States in response to the October 2017 request regarding the persistent issues of nutrient loading and harmful algal blooms in Missisquoi Bay, Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River, as well as in Lake Memphremagog.

As indicated in each of the project work plans, the IJC is collaborating with local watershed organizations, local governments, and the scientific and academic community to identify current programs and measures to address high nutrient levels and algal blooms and propose ways to strengthen those efforts.

Over the past year, contracts have been awarded to the following organizations:

  • the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP)
  • l'Organisme de bassin versant de la baie Missisquoi (OBVBM)
  • Memphremagog Conservation Inc. (MCI), and
  • Memphremagog Watershed Association (MWA)

These partner organizations have extensive local knowledge and understanding of the impacts of water quality to recreation, human health and ecosystems for people and their pets. Their expertise will help the IJC in developing recommendations to improve the future health of the watersheds.

Technical workshops and public consultations on the preliminary findings will take place in late spring 2019, before the watershed organizations submit their reports to the IJC.

The International Joint Commission was established under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help the United States and Canada prevent and resolve disputes over the use of shared waters. Its responsibilities include a range of transboundary water issues, including its high-quality work related to flooding in the Lake Champlain–Richelieu River basin

Contact for more information:

Frank Bevacqua         202-736-9024              bevacquaf@washington.ijc.org

Randi Morry                613-947-1420              morryr@ottawa.ijc.org