LANSING – The Great Lakes Compact has received has worked in some cases, not so in others, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation on the initiative’s overall progress and effectiveness.

Michigan received high marks for the Department of Environmental Quality’s on-line Water Withdrawal Assessment tool, which is used to predict the effect of water withdrawal on streams and rivers.

However, “Michigan has failed to apply its permitting standard to proposed large withdrawals in a way that is consistent with its obligation under the compact,” according to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Implementation of the Great Lakes Compact.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, as it’s officially known, is a binding agreement among the Great Lakes states to protect the region from water diversions and excessive withdrawals. Each state agreed to implement the compact by meeting a series of three deadlines over a five-year period.

Two deadlines have passed with the final one coming up on Dec. 8, 2013, and implementation is progressing “at a snail’s pace,” Sara Gosman, the report’s author, said in a National Wildlife Federation release.

According to the study, apathy and a lack of funds is plaguing the compact at the halfway point of implementation. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council, which was created to provide oversight for the compact, is “operating on a shoestring budget” and has not held states accountable for not complying, Gosman said.

Ohio has recently passed legislation that conflicts with the compact by exempting more water withdrawals from regulation than any other state and poses a threat to recreation, tourism and wildlife, according to the report.

The report concludes that the health of the Great Lakes and their attendant recreational, wildlife, environmental and commercial entities depend on full implementation and enforcement of the compact.

“It is time for the states to renew their commitments under the compact to each other, to the public and to the long-term health of the Great Lakes Basin,” Gosman said. “And it is time for the Council to demand the resources necessary to oversee the states and to publicly set the states right when they falter. There is no doubt that these actions require more effort than accepting the lowest common denominator.”

While some Great Lakes states have taken the compact seriously and have even come up with innovative approaches to conservation, each has failed to meet at least one of the deadlines.

Recommendations for Michigan include:

? Adequately funding “its groundbreaking water withdrawal process by either restoring general funding or ending the fee-exemption for agricultural uses”;

? Reassessing the permitting program to ensure it’s consistent with the compact’s minimum standards;

? Requiring applicants to adopt environmentally sound and economically feasible water conservation measures as a condition of being granted a permit.

In general, the report recommends that the Great Lakes states dedicate staff and financial resources to comply with the compact’s obligations. States also must provide the council with adequate funding to carry out its responsibilities, according to the report.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

a>>