Restoring the Great Lakes

THE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given substance to President Obama's pledge to make cleaning up the Great Lakes a priority, unveiling a $2.2 billion initiative to reverse 150 years of abuse and neglect. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan, which got its first cash infusion last year, is ambitious, comprehensive, and long overdue.

Even as the nation struggles to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s and demands on scarce public funds multiply, putting off this important work would have been foolishly shortsighted.

The Great Lakes hold 6 quadrillion gallons of fresh water, about 20 percent of the world's supply. That's more than 17 million gallons of water for every man, woman, and child in the United States and Canada, with whom we share the lakes.

Thirty million people get their drinking water from the Great Lakes. Tens of millions depend upon the lakes for their livelihood. Millions more swim, hunt, fish, or sail on or near the lakes.

Until now, we have not treated this irreplaceable resource very well. The Great Lakes have been overrun by scores of non-native species, precious wetlands have been destroyed, and the waters have been fouled with toxic waste, raw sewage, industrial sludge, farm runoff, and discarded pharmaceuticals.

Through a combination of targeted cleanups, wetlands restoration, enforcement of existing environmental rules, development of new regulations, and aggressive action against invasive species such as the Asian carp currently knocking at Lake Michigan's door, the EPA hopes to make Great Lakes water safe to drink and swim in, its fish safe to eat, and its habitats places where native species thrive.

Congress approved $475 million last year to begin the process. President Obama's new budget includes a second installment of $300 million, and the EPA plan calls for three more annual investments of $475 million each.

That's a lot of money, especially now. But it's an investment that will pay big dividends not only for the people who live, work, and play near the Great Lakes today, but for all of America, now and in the future.