The International Joint Commission is a bi-national organization that helps Canada and the U.S. manage their shared water. Here in New York, the IJC has put out a new proposal that would change the water levels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. BV7, as the plan is called, would raise the maximum level as much as 2.4 inches while reducing the minimum level by as much as eight inches. The commission cites that the old water level management plan didn’t take the environment into consideration and this fluctuation will help regenerate an ecosystem that, in some parts of the region, have become overgrown with cattails. Environmentalists are in support of the proposal, but many homeowners along the south shore of Lake Ontario are not.
In this episode we take a look at the issue from both sides of the story. Watch video above.