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The Great Lakes are losing 2.5 billion gallons of water per day!
What's going on? Where did this problem come from?
In 1962, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged
Lake
St. Clair
. The goal was to create a channel thirty feet deep,
in order to allow large freighters passage. They knew the
great lake water levels would drop, but it was estimated the
drop would only be 12 inches overall.
They were wrong about how far the water would drop.
Water levels of the
Great Lakes
have dropped 30 inches!
And there's no end in sight. The drop of 30 inches is
equivalent to 1/4 of
Lake Erie
. What does a 30 inch
drop in lake level look like? Click here to find out.
In places along the channel, erosion has deepened the
channel from 30 feet to 60 feet deep in places. This means
water from Lake Michigan is flowing through
Lake St. Clair out to Lake Erie faster than ever.
Does this mean Lake Erie will receive all that water?
No. The water is not staying in Lake Erie.
It's flowing through Lake Erie to Niagra
Falls, and then down to the St. Lawrence Seaway.
This must stop if the great lakes are to survive. The Great Lakes
make up 20% of the world's fresh water
supply. That's a lot of water! To allow this water to become
contaminated, to drain out, or to be wasted is simply not smart.
It's not good for the future of anyone.
It's estimated that the Great Lakes will drop another 10 inches by
early 2008.
If we expect rain to make up this loss, think again.
If we are losing 2.5 billion gallons of water per day,
we can not expect 2.5 billion gallons of rain everyday to
make up for this loss.
What can you do? Let everyone you know who loves the
Great Lakes know about this site. Spread the word of what's
happening to the Great Lakes. Knowledge is the first step
to power. Then, let congress know how you feel.
You can use the links on this web site to send an email to your
congressional representatives making them aware of the problem
and ask them to take a serious look at it.
The more people that become aware of this problem, the more
chances we have of fixing it. We CAN save the Great Lakes if we
act now to DO something about this monumental and wasteful
water loss.
Click here to take action now! Let Congress and the Senate
know how you feel!
Click here to read about more on this growing problem.
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