Water quality agreement

In 1972, the governments of Canada and the U.S. signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) to begin controlling nutrients and contaminants entering the lakes. GLWQA was renewed and expanded in 1987 to include development of Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) for each of the lakes. The purpose of the LaMPs was to repair “beneficial use impairments”; that is, changes in the chemical, physical, or biological integrity of the Great Lakes System that limited gainful use of the resource.

GLWQA defines fourteen “beneficial use impairments,” and these criteria are used to identify lakewide problems requiring coordinated bilateral actions. These indicators address all major components of the ecosystem ranging from phytoplankton populations to human health concerns. Contaminants responsible for these impairments are referred to as LaMP “critical pollutants.”

Beneficial use impairments

1.	Restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption
2.	Tainting of fish and wildlife flavor
3.	Degradation of fish and wildlife populations
4.	Fish tumors or other deformities
5.	Bird or animal deformities or reproductive problems
6.	Degradation of benthos
7.	Restrictions on dredging activities
8.	Eutrophication or undesirable algae
9.	Restrictions on drinking water consumption, or taste and odor problems
10.	Closing of beaches
11.	Degradation of aesthetics
12.	Added costs to agriculture or industry
13.	Degradation of phytoplankton and zooplankton populations
14.	Loss of fish and wildlife habitat

LaMP for Ontario

Lake Ontario's LaMP expands on the Lake Ontario Toxics Management Plan, an earlier bilateral initiative that defined contaminant problems in Lake Ontario, tracked contaminant reduction actions, and initiated the development of ecosystem goals and objectives. LaMP staff reviewed available information pertaining to the fourteen beneficial use impairments and released a problem definition assessment in May 1998 after consulting with other natural resource agencies and the public. The assessment identified the following lakewide impairments:

Lakewide beneficial use impairments	Lakewide critical pollutants and other factors causing impairments
Restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption	PCBs, dioxins, mirex, mercury, DDT
Degradation of wildlife populations	PCBs, dioxin, DDT
Bird or animal deformities or reproductive problems	PCBs, dioxin, DDT
Loss of fish and wildlife habitat	Lake level management Exotic species Physical loss, modification and destruction of habitat

Dieldrin is also included on the Lake Ontario LaMP List of Critical Pollutants although it is not directly associated with a use impairment.

The Four Parties are now developing a contaminant reduction strategy to identify and control sources of critical pollutants by means of a range of voluntary, regulatory, and programmatic actions. This strategy also addresses other important issues such as habitat loss and exotic species.