Areas of Concern (AOCs)

From Great Lakes Wiki

The 1987 U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement lists 43 Areas of Concern - specific geographic regions that particularly impair aquatic life.

1: Peninsula Harbour, ON 2: Jackfish Bay, ON 3: Nipigon Bay, ON 4: Thunder Bay, ON 5: St. Louis River and Bay, WI 6: Torch Lake, MI 7: Deer Lake,MI 8: St. Mary's River, MI 9: Manistique River, MI 10: Menominee River, WI 11: Lower Green Bay and Fox River, WI 12: Sheboygan River, WI 13: Milwaukee Estuary, WI 14: Waukegan Harbor, IL 15: Grand Calumet River, IN 16: Kalamazoo River, MI 17: Muskegon Lake, MI 18: White Lake, MI 19: Saginaw River and Bay, MI 20: St. Clair River, MI 21: Clinton River, MI

Know something about one of these areas? Help report their history and progress. A good model to follow is this report on the Rouge River.

22: Detroit River and Black Lagoon, MI '23: Rouge River, MI' 24: River Raisin, MI 25: Maumee River, OH 26: Wheatley Harbour, ON 27: Black River, OH 28: Cuyahoga River, OH 29: Ashtabula River, OH 30: Presque Isle Bay, PA 31: Buffalo River, NY 32: Niagara River, NY 33: Eighteen Mile Creek, NY 34: Hamilton Harbour, ON 35: Toronto Region, ON 36: Collingwood Harbour, ON (delisted) 37: Severn Sound, ON (delisted) 38: Port Hope, ON 39: Rochester Embayment, NY 40: Bay of Quinte, ON 41: Oswego River/Harbor, NY (delisted) 42&43: St. Lawrence River, NY

Areas of Concern Citizen News Getting the Message Out on Great Lakes Restoration: Communicating with Local Communities on Restoring Michigan's Great Lakes Areas of Concern. This workshop on Nov. 9, 2007 in Whitehall, Michigan will review the progress made in communicating Great Lakes areas of concern to the public, elected officials and other audiences. Watch video and read about the Great Lakes Commission Areas of Concern Conference in Cleveland June 28 to June 30, that brought together about 200 representatives from over 30 Areas of Concern. US and Canadian officials, citizen groups and representative of philanthropic organizations discussed the future of these environmental hot spots. Results of a streambank restoration project on the Rouge River Status of the River Sewage Control Video Clip Reason for becoming an area of concern 04:11 Taken from an interview with Bill Craig in the city of Wayne, explaining why the Rouge River became an area of concern.

Mainstream Media News on Areas of Concern New streamlined action plan proposed for Great Lakes Areas of Concern Oswego River Area of Concern Delisted (July 2006) Combined Sewer Overflow Project Delayed Rouge River Clean Up Grants Awarded Novi Park will Encompass Part of the Rouge New Funds for Rouge Clean Up Find a new Area of Concern story? Add links to the top of the list.

What is an Area of Concern?

• Area of Concern is a designation derived from the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Canada and the United States signed the agreement in 1972 to address environmental issues in the Great Lakes region. In 1987, the two countries designated 43 such areas, each with its own Remedial Action Plan. Twenty-six were in the U.S., 12 in Canada and five were shared by both countries. Two Canadian sites, Severn Sound and Collingwood Harbour, and one U.S. site, the Oswego River, have been delisted. These sites had to meet the delisting guidelines.
  

Areas of concern are typically near urban and industrial centers where harmful substances from industrial processes have contaminated the river sediment, sewer overflows contribute hazardous bacteria and runoff from paved surfaces (non-point source pollution) enters the water.

Recently, the International Joint Commission has called for a revision of the action plans to address new challenges in the Great Lakes region and to speed progress.

Areas of Concern differ from Super Fund sites in that they are part of a special agreement between the United States and Canada and are only in the Great Lakes region. The Super Fund Program was created by an act of Congress in 1980.

Links

AOCs at the EPA

Environment Canada