Not so Great Lakes have sprung a leak

[rick]

What caused Great Lakes water levels to drop to record lows?

KATE LUNAU | October 15, 2007 |

Imagine pulling the plug on a giant bathtub. That's what one residents' group claims is happening in the Great Lakes, the largest of which -- Lake Superior -- recently hit its lowest point on record for the month of September. This year's average level was four centimetres below the previous September record, set in 1926, according to the U.S.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. (The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers puts it at 10 cm below the old record.) While the NOAA lab and the army blame drought and mild winters for Superior's current levels, all five Great Lakes are down, and the reason why isn't yet clear.

Mary Muter of the Georgian Bay Association says the Great Lakes -- specifically, lakes Huron and Michigan -- may have sprung a leak. She claims a "hole" caused by dredging in the St. Clair River (Huron's outflow) has effectively pulled the plug on both, which are fed by Superior. "Once you take away the hard gravel cover, you expose soft sand that naturally erodes," Muter says. The GBA estimates that 2.5 billion gallons of excess water are sucked down the St. Clair each day. Muter believes rocks should be placed in the riverbed to staunch the flow. "To not be stewarding this resource in a responsible manner is a disgrace," she says.

But not everyone agrees. "You don't just fill up a river," says Environment Canada's David Fay, noting that the environmental and financial costs of doing so could be significant. What's more, "we simply don't know if the GBA claim is true." Several factors could be contributing to the shrinking of the Great Lakes, Fay notes, from natural fluctuation to climate change. A $17.5-million study by the International Joint Commission -- which oversees the lakes for Canada and the U.S. -- will examine erosion in the St. Clair River. Some findings could be reported as early as Oct. 17. The study wraps up in 2013.

[Tom Chopin]

I've heard that hole theory before. If it was leaking where does the water go?? If the hole has a bottom that you could presumably fill with Rocks, wouldn't the water fill it and then level back out? Seems odd.......

[bigugli]

Same idea as how much water flows through a 1 inch pipe as opposed to how much flows through a 1 1/2 in pipe. If you increase the size of the drain you increase the volume flow. That is there argument.

However, the Great Lakes have been manipulated and altered over100 years. All for the sake of our technology and industrial progress.

[Guest fishstick]

Wouldn't surprise me if the water is on it's way to Arizona and Nevada.....

Never think it's impossible....

[smerchly]

One story I heard about is that there is a fault line under Lake Ontario draining the whole system ......another ,was Labatts is getting very busy.....

There seems to be holes in all these "theories" .....maybe a few tons of red dye strategically located could tell us where the water is going.....

[shadow]

After al is siad and done by blaming global warming and the ozone. In the end we as a human species are to blame. Now its too late