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What Is The Lake Erie LaMP?What is a LaMP?LaMP stands for Lakewide Management Plan. A LaMP is a comprehensive management plan to restore and protect the waters in each of the Great Lakes. Using LaMPs as a tool to restore water quality is highlighted in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). LaMPs are currently underway for Lakes Ontario, Erie, Michigan and Superior. What is the Lake Erie LaMP?The goal of the Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan is to preserve, restore and protect the beneficial uses of Lake Erie. The development of the Lake Erie LaMP can best be thought of as a problem solving process. We first must identify the water quality problems occurring in Lake Erie. Second, we must identify the key causes of those problems. Finally, we must identify what our desired state for the lake is, once the water quality problems have been resolved. A vision of the desired state of Lake Erie allows us to gauge our progress in resolving water quality problems and to identify when we have reached our objectives for a clean and healthy lake. The completion of these steps will set the stage for action. Three Lake Erie LaMP technical subcommittees are working on each of the aspects mentioned above. The Sources and Loadings Subcommittee is identifying the key chemical sources of identified water quality problems. The Ecosystem Objectives Subcommittee is developing objectives that define our collective desired state for Lake Erie and reflect sound science and public values. When the work of these three subcommittees is complete, we will have the core elements needed to begin the action planning process. It is recognized that all Lake Erie water quality issues are not captured within the 14 beneficial use impairments identified by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Similarly, all impairments are not caused by chemical contaminants. These issues will be addressed as the LaMP development process continues. Your input is important to us so that we can better understand the concerns and priorities of the public as we work toward action. Who is Developing the Lake Erie LaMP?U.S. EPA Region 5 and Environment Canada have been serving as the Federal co-leads for this effort with participation from the states of Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York and the province of Ontario. Members of participating government agencies created a Concept Paper to outline the scope of the Lake Erie LaMP and to provide an organizational framework upon which LaMP activities could be built.
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URL: http://binational.net/erie/whatis-e.html |
