A new report was released in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois, about water management in the Great Lakes region. The 2024 Annual Report of the Great Lakes Regional Water Use Database shows that water withdrawals from the Great Lakes basin stayed stable over the past year. Most of the withdrawn water was returned to the system.
In 2024, the basin had a net gain of 345 million gallons of water per day. In 2023, there was a net loss of 550 million gallons per day. The report attributes the change to increased water diversions from the Hudson Bay watershed into Lake Superior through the Long Lac and Ogoki diversions in northern Ontario.
The report states that 35.7 billion gallons of water per day were withdrawn from the basin in 2024. This is less than a 1% increase from the previous year. Of this amount, just under 5% was consumed or lost. Most water use was for thermoelectric power production, public water supply, and industry…