Waterlife

If the Great Lakes were a country it would be the second largest economy in the world. "The gross rgional product of the great lakes region is $4.2 trillion. The only greater economy is the United States." The Great Lake Basin stand as a true testement to the the economic and lifegiving power that freshwater water has in the world has 20% of the worlds freshwater. Split between 10% of the U.S. population and 30% of the Candian population who call this place home.
With all this pressure for production the great lakes are under sevre pressure from biodiversity loss to high levels of toxic chemicals in drinking water. Awarness is the first step towards solutions and a cross-platform new media project has produced somthing called waterlife.nfb.ca this website produces an interactive and insightful resource of the wide array of issues that face the Great Lakes watershed. As we look through we see that all these problems are intertwined. Chemicals never seen before from industry and agriculture are accumulating in the natural system and the people living within them. The effects though largely unknown since "Scientist are having a difficult time determining the fate of these chemicals... The interst of the corporation be it a goverment orginization or in business come first." There have already 10 Canadian and 5 and US-Canadian AOC (Areas of Concern) and many adverse health effect to native wildlife and people throughout the Great Lakes Region including defrominalities and biomaccumulation in wildlife. The St. Lawrence Beluga is believed to be the most contaminated marine mammels on the planet were one quarter of the adults are dying of cancer. In the area Sarnia Ontario that is exposed to high levels of water and air pollution there has been a girl-baby boom. In the Aamjiwnaag First Nations community twice as many girls are being produced to boys. This is believed to be caused by an endocrine disrubter.
Pollution from residents themselves are also causing tremendous damge from sewage caused by overflows of rainwater and raw sewage which bypass treatment plants and go straight into the water nearby leading to mass eutriphication. It is estimated that 90 billion litres of CSO (combined sewer overflow) is released by 20 cities alone in a single year. Also today one third drink bottled water over tap water but they are disillusined by the fact that they are drinking tapwater anyways. In fact municipal water supplies are inspected on a daily basis when bottled water plants are inspected 3 times a year. This creates a huge amount of plastic going directly into a landfill.
With all these problems becoming apparent communities are pressuring their goverments on a local and national level. The Obama adminsitration has recently allocated $475 million in their 2010 annual budget toward recovery and protection of the Great Lakes. Canada has not yet made such a commitment yet this year. It is essential that Canadians become aware of this great responsibilty which the must acted upon.

Citations and sources from http://waterlife.nfb.ca/
as well as:
-Ada Lockridge, Aamjiwnaag First Nation
-Pamela Martin, Canadian Wildlife Service
-www.inesl.org
-www.ec.gc.ca
-www.polarinstitute.org
-www.insidethebottle.org
-www.ecojustice.ca/media-centre/press-releases

Picture:
http://absolutemichigan.com/