Mayors call for more Great Lakes cleanup cash

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. – Mayors from both sides of the border are calling for the Canadian and U.S. governments to jointly pump $760 million a year into Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River cleanup projects.

At their annual meeting in Niagara Falls, Ont., the coalition of more than 80 mayors called for sustained funding from both countries to protect the water supply for millions of people who live near those bodies of water.

Mayors of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative say they applaud the U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The American plan includes programs to battle invasive species, remove toxic sediments, restore wildlife habitat and other projects to fix environmental problems in the Great Lakes.

The U.S. government committed $475 million to the initiative in 2010 but cut that to $300 million this year and proposes $350 million for next year.

The Canadian government invested $50 million for cleanup projects for the Great Lakes and put $15 million into the St. Lawrence last year.

But with lakes and rivers facing enormous challenges such as shoreline protection and wetlands preservation, the mayors want Canada to boost its annual spending to $285 million and the United States to restore its $475 million-per-year amount.

"Protecting and restoring the world’s largest freshwater resource and source of drinking water for 40 million people must be a priority for our two countries," said Mayor Brian McMullan of St. Catharines, Ont., who is chairman of the Cities Initiative.

Cities invest more than $15 billion annually to protect and restore the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, the mayors noted.

The cleanup projects lead to fewer beach closures, higher property values and other benefits, they said.

The Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, found that a $26-billion investment in the Great Lakes would bring a return of more than $50 billion in economic benefits.

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies estimates that 47,000 jobs are created for every billion dollars invested in clean water infrastructure.