[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 7 (Monday, January 31, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S655-S656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. DeWine, Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. 
        Voinovich):
  S. 208. A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to 
direct the Great Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental 
Protection Agency to develop, implement, monitor, and report on a 
series of indicators of water quality and related environmental factors 
in the Great Lakes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, my colleagues Senators DeWine and Voinovich 
of Ohio, Senator Stabenow of Michigan, and I are pleased to introduce 
the Great Lakes Water Quality Indicators and Monitoring Act. The bill 
directs the Environmental Protection Agency to develop indicators of 
Great Lakes water quality and related environmental factors and a 
comprehensive network to monitor those indicators. This bill will 
result in science-based assessments of the health of the Great Lakes.
  The Great Lakes are a treasured natural resource. The Great Lakes 
contain almost 20% of the world's fresh water, and millions of people 
in the Great Lakes basin rely on the lakes for drinking water, for 
economic livelihoods such as fishing and shipping, and for recreational 
opportunities, including swimming and boating. Unfortunately, the Great 
Lakes have suffered from decades of toxic discharges, urban and 
agricultural runoff, and other environmental challenges. We've made 
some progress in improving water quality, but we know we have a long 
way to go.
  The stewards of the lakes--at the Federal, State, and local levels--
use a variety of methods to determine the health of the Great Lakes and 
whether they are improving. For example, the EPA and the Fish and 
Wildlife Service monitor the accumulation of chemicals in Great Lakes 
fish. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detects 
changes in the ecosystem from space-based satellites and waterborne 
buoys. The U.S. Geological Survey samples stream flow and quality, and 
the States inspect for compliance with water quality standards. These 
efforts to collect scientific data are largely voluntary and suffer 
from a lack of funding and coordination. Additionally, they use 
inconsistent methods that often produce incompatible results.
  In 2004, the General Accounting Office released a report entitled 
Great Lakes: An Overall Strategy and Indicators for Measuring Progress 
are Needed to Better Achieve Restoration Goals. The GAO looked at 
almost 200 Federal and State programs and found that a lack of 
coordination, poorly defined goals, and insufficient data make it 
difficult to evaluate the success of these programs. The GAO found that 
there are no data collected regularly throughout the Great Lakes, and 
that the existing data are inadequate to determine whether water 
quality and other environmental conditions are improving.
  In 1990, I authored the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act, which 
strengthened the water quality standards in the Great Lakes region. In 
2002, Congress passed the Great Lakes Legacy Act, to speed the cleanup 
of contaminated bottom sediment. Today, we need to establish a way to 
evaluate the impact of these and similar measures. To show results, we 
need science-based indicators of water quality and related 
environmental factors, and we need to monitor those indicators 
regularly throughout the ecosystem.
  GAO recommends that EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office lead an

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effort to develop indicators and a monitoring network. Our bill gives 
that office the mandate to work with other Federal agencies and Canada 
to identify and measure water quality and other environmental factors 
on a regular basis. The initial set of data collected through this 
network will serve as a benchmark against which to measure future 
improvements. Those measurements will help us make decisions on how to 
steer future restoration efforts. With a clear picture of how the Great 
Lakes are changing, we can change course when needed and spend public 
funds on the most effective measures to meet the most pressing demands.
  This bill serves a second purpose--it provides EPA with dedicated 
funding to make sure that data collection can begin in a timely manner 
and be carried out consistently and comprehensively.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this bill and help speed its 
passage.
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