Great Lakes Restoration Discussed

By Bud Lowell

Rochester, NY – Local government, business and environmental leaders came to Camp Eastman in Irondequoit on Wednesday to hear from John Austin. He's the author of a report that says investing $26 billion in the 11 states and two Canadian Provinces around the Great Lakes will produce at least $50 billion in long term economic benefit to the region.

Austin says economic interests have come to realize that it's not just the water in the Great Lakes that's an important resource, but the scenic beauty of the shores as well. He says they both work together to make the region more desirable as a place to live and work in a global economy.

President Obama has put $475 million into the next federal budget for improving sewer systems and cleaning up toxic waste sites around the Great Lakes.

25th District Congressman Dan Maffei says that's just a down payment on what's needed, but it's nice to see some recognition of the issue from Washington. Maffei says one reason he attended the Irondequoit meeting is to help bring all the local governments along Lake Ontario together together to plan for using federal funds as they become available. He says cleaning up waste sites and fixing old leaky sewer systems that dump 23 billion gallons of raw waste into the Great Lakes every year should be a national priority.

Water quality is a major issue for communities along the Great Lakes, according to Supervisor Bob Kelsch from the Wayne County Town of Ontario. If more federal money does become available, he'd like to see sewers extended to a mile-long stretch of the Lake Ontario shoreline in his town where people rely on septic systems. Kelsch says about half his lakefront town is farm land, so agricultural runoff is also a concern.