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Water quality and ecosystem health data collected in the Great Lakes and priority tributaries to determine baseline water quality status, long term trends and spatial distributions, the effectiveness of management actions, determine compliance with water quality objectives and identify emerging issues are included in this dataset.

Water quality and suspended sediment monitoring and surveillance data collected from the connecting channels of the Great Lakes to determine baseline water quality status, long term trends and spatial distributions, the effectiveness of management actions, determine compliance with sediment quality objectives and identify emerging issues are included in this dataset. The Great Lakes are joined together by river systems known collectively as connecting channels, including the St. Marys River, the St. Clair River (and Lake St. Clair), the Detroit River, the Niagara River, and the St. Lawrence River. Uniquely, the connecting channels originate from the outflow of one or more large, oligotrophic lakes rather than the accumulation of a network of tributaries.

Water quality and ecosystem health surveillance and monitoring data collected to complete assessments of beneficial use impairments of Areas of Concern (AOCs) and to track the effectiveness of remedial measures and confirm restoration of beneficial uses are included in this dataset. AOCs are geographic areas in the Great Lakes that were identified in the mid-1980s where significant impairment of beneficial uses has occurred as a result of human activities at the local level. Remediating AOCs contributes to the sustainability of local communities and of the Great Lakes region, and is a joint commitment under the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA).

The Great Lakes Sediment Database (also known as the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) Sediment Archive) is an archive of data on the sediments of the Great Lakes, their connecting channels, and the St. Lawrence River which was collected by NWRI and in cooperation with other agencies between 1960 and 1975. It is housed in Environment and Climate Change Canada's Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Burlington, Ontario. The data has been subdivided into two groups according to location and purpose:

1.Great Lakes Basin Sediment Data: physical and geochemical data for sediment samples and cores collected lakewide in lakes Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron (including Georgian Bay), Michigan and Superior between 1960 and 1975 by R.L. Thomas, A.L.W.

Water quality monitoring data collected in priority tributaries to provide nutrient concentration data to estimate nutrient loads to the waters of the Great Lakes. Data is collected to advance the science to understand and address the complex problem of recurrent toxic and nuisance algae in the Great Lakes. The majority of the data is focused on Lake Erie, the smallest, shallowest of the Great Lakes, and most susceptible to nearshore water quality issues. Water quality monitoring is conducted to establish current nutrient loadings from selected Canadian tributaries; to enhance the knowledge of the factors that affect tributary and nearshore water quality, ecosystem health, and algae growth; to establish binational lake ecosystem objectives, phosphorus objectives, and phosphorous load reduction targets, and to support the development of a binational nearshore assessment and management framework.

Water quality monitoring data collected in priority tributaries to provide nutrient concentration data to estimate nutrient loads to the waters of the Great Lakes. Data is collected to advance the science to understand and address the complex problem of recurrent toxic and nuisance algae in the Great Lakes. The majority of the data is focused on Lake Erie, the smallest, shallowest of the Great Lakes, and most susceptible to nearshore water quality issues. Water quality monitoring is conducted to establish current nutrient loadings from selected Canadian tributaries; to enhance the knowledge of the factors that affect tributary and nearshore water quality, ecosystem health, and algae growth; to establish binational lake ecosystem objectives, phosphorus objectives, and phosphorous load reduction targets, and to support the development of a binational nearshore assessment and management framework.

Water quality and ecosystem health data collected using a risk-based monitoring approach to support the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement are included in this dataset. By conducting regular, systematic measurements of the physical, chemical and biological conditions of the Great Lakes Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is able to: measure the natural changes and conditions of water quality; determine changes over time, at various locations, of water contaminants and/or threats; support development of science-based guidelines for water, fish, and sediment; identify emerging issues and threats; track the results of remedial measures and regulatory decisions; report and assess science results through performance indicators and in an Open Science environment to support an ecosystem approach to environmental and resource management in the Great Lakes. Data are collected by Environment and Climate Change Canada to meet federal commitments related to the Great Lakes as transboundary waters crossing, inter- provincial and international borders under the authorities of the Department of the Environment Act, the Canada Water Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and the Boundary Waters Treaty including the commitments under the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Blooms of filamentous benthic algae that plagued Lake Erie in the 1950s through 1970s were largely reduced through reductions of phosphorus (P) loading from point sources. Since the mid-1990s, these blooms have returned despite a period of relatively stable external P inputs. While increased loadings of dissolved P have been causally linked to cyanobacterial blooms in some parts of the lake, the impacts of ecosystem changes such as the effect of invasive species on nutrient cycling and availability have not been fully elucidated, leading to uncertainty as to the effectiveness of additional non-point P management actions. Here we use the oxygen isotope ratios (δ18OP) of phosphate in concert with measures of water quality along the northern shore of the east basin of Lake Erie to identify sources and pathways of P cycling and infer potential importance in relation to annual blooms of Cladophora that foul the shorelines of eastern Lake Erie.

Monitoring and surveillance data on the concentration of contaminants in selected species of fish and other aquatic biota collected to determine the environmental trends in contaminant levels and relationship to sources of pollution, the effectiveness of management actions, and the risk to fish and fish-consuming wildlife in the Great Lakes aquatic ecosystem are included in this dataset.

Spanish Harbour was identified as an Area of Concern (AOC) due to degraded water quality and environmental health and was recognized as an Area in Recovery in 1999. As part of the Great Lakes Action Plan, assessments of benthic conditions in Spanish Harbour have been conducted periodically since 2003. Using information from three assessment components – sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity, and benthic community structure – overall and assessment component-specific conditions were determined based on the Canada-Ontario Decision Making Framework for the Assessment of Contaminated Sediments in the Great Lakes. Results from these assessments are used by ECCC and MECP AOC risk managers to evaluate sediment management plans.