Water levels board to add municipal representatives

In this July 2018, file photo, a section of the St. Lawrence River looking west from the base of Brookdale Avenue in Cornwall, Ont. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

WASHINGTON – The governing body overseeing the board with direct say on St. Lawrence River water levels will be adding municipal representation.

But those members – one for Canada and one for the U.S. – will be speaking for a massive area.

The International Joint Commission announced today (July 17) it will be adding one Canadian and one American municipal rep to the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board (LOSLR) to speak for all shoreline municipalities on Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River for Canada and the U.S.

The Canadian rep would essentially speak for municipalities from Niagara Falls, Ont. to Trois-Rivieres, Que.

The IJC says it will help in the board’s efforts “to document the human and social impacts of recent flooding at the local and municipal level” and will lead to better decisions.

The IJC did not outline how the two municipal reps will be picked, when they will be picked and when they will join the board.

Pending Canada and U.S. government funding, the LOSLR would also look to appoint two public members to an advisory group with the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Adaptive Management Committee.

Record outflows along the St. Lawrence River are expected to continue through the middle of next month at 10,400 cubic meters per second (367,270 cubic feet per second) as the board looks to drop the level of Lake Ontario by 30 centimeters.