The IJC was to find the sources of pollution, and determine whether the sources impacted the other country, as well as make recommendations to prevent further pollution issues. The governments of Canada and the United States specifically asked the IJC to study the location and extent of pollution in all boundary waters including the Great Lakes. The IJC’s first Great Lakes water quality assessment started in 1913 and published its final report in 1918. Article IV of the Boundary Waters Treaty states that all transboundary waters “shall not be polluted on either side to the injury of health or property on the other.” Within that scope (more limited than the Agreement as a whole), governments tasked the IJC several times prior to the Agreement to assess the Great Lakes and make recommendations. Since its inception in 1909, the International Joint Commission (IJC) has been involved in Great Lakes water quality issues. April 15 marked the 50 th anniversary of the Agreement’s signing.īut the Agreement was not the start of efforts to restore the lakes. The two nations have made much progress in the years since. The 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement provided a path forward for Canada and the United States to jointly address these issues. New economic activities and cultural centers were spawned, while the lakes saw new (and often unwanted) species and pollution from industry, agriculture and cities. Over the past two centuries, western settlement and the Industrial Revolution dramatically changed the water quality of the Great Lakes.
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