Climate change is a deciding factor in record high water levels in the Great Lakes being higher than ever before, as Water Institute member and head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, Blair Feltmate discussed with Ben Mulroney, co-host of CTV’s Your Morning yesterday.
According to government statistics, July water levels for the bodies of water between Canada and the U.S. were at record highs. And this can lead to faster erosion of the coastline and flooding.
The flooding this spring and summer along the northern shores of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands and some Toronto-area beaches has been particularly troublesome for homeowners and businesses.
“Number one is climate change-induced. We’re getting more water coming down over shorter periods of time more frequently,” he said.
The second factor is how “we’ve removed 72 to 73 per cent of the natural infrastructure of forest fields and wetlands, which gives water a place to go when it falls.”
“Now, when the big storms hit, the water goes very quickly into the Great Lakes,” Feltmate said.
The Great Lakes region, which stretches across the southern Canadian border, is vitally important for commerce and because it holds one-fifth of the world's fresh water.
Feltmate doesn’t agree with idea that increases in water levels aren’t simply due to heavy rain and a big spring melt, as suggested by the International Joint Commission, a group created in 1909 for settling U.S.-Canada boundary-water disputes and, more recently, maintaining water quality.
“Plan 2014,” which the commission implemented at the end of 2016, raised the maximum water level in the Great Lakes to six centimetres more than the previous maximum to adjust to recent fluctuating water levels.