Report on water quality management released

News Release
ILoWRR Task Force

The International Lake of the Woods and Rainy River Watershed Task Force is issuing today its draft final report with recommendations regarding how the United States and Canada could work together to better manage water quality, water quantity, and related issues in the international Lake of the Woods and Rainy River watershed. The draft final report is available at the Task Force’s website at http://www.ijc.org/conseil_board/rainy_river_watershed/ and will be available at some local libraries.
Key recommendations concern removing impediments to Aboriginal participation in water management decision-making; building on ongoing science to develop nutrient loadings for the entirety of Lake of the Woods, considering whether higher-level agreements would facilitate further progress, and holding a special conference with elected officials to discuss a common vision for water management in the watershed; combining two International Joint Commission (IJC) boards and assigning them responsibility for water quality monitoring in boundary waters (including Lake of the Woods and upstream of Namakan Lake), for alerting of potential boundary water concerns arising within the watershed, and for tracking climate change indicators and invasive species in the watershed; adding a local member to the board that regulates Lake of the Woods water levels; and conducting a bi-national study of the effects of Lake of the Woods water-level regulation, including in Shoal Lake.
Comments on the draft final report are welcome through June 24, 2011 either via the Task Force’s website, or by contacting the Co-Secretaries listed below. The Task Force will hold public meetings June 13-16, 2011, at 7:00 pm in Atikokan (June 13), Fort Frances (June 14), Baudette (June 15), and Kenora (June 16); specific meeting venues are listed on the Task Force’s website. The Task Force will issue its final report to the IJC by July 15, 2011. Informed by the Task Force’s work, the IJC will make its recommendations to the U.S. and Canadian Governments by December 2011 for their consideration and potential action.
The Task Force was established by the IJC to help it respond to a request from the Governments of Canada and the United States for advice on how to address water quality, water quantity and related issues in the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River watershed, both now and in the future. The Task Force’s main tasks are to review the ways that Canada and the United States work together to manage water quality, water quantity and related issues in the watershed, to identify gaps in the current approach, to identify key existing or emerging issues that require attention, and to recommend any new or adjusted governance mechanisms that would help address the identified future needs.