United States -- Great Lakes

The Great Lakes Waterkeepers include eight Waterkeeper organizations working to protect and restore the Great Lakes and numerous tributary rivers and lakes within the Great Lakes Watershed. We also work collaboratively with three of our Canadian Great Lakes Waterkeepers to advocate for bi-national issues affecting our boundary waters and shared resources.  The Great Lakes region contains 95 percent of the United States’ fresh surface water, and 20 percent of the world’s.

Goals:

The goal of the Great Lakes Waterkeeper organizations is to:

1. Raise the visibility of Great Lakes Waterkeepers both collectively and individually, as well as increase public awareness of the waterways we protect and of the Waterkeeper movement;
2. Create a strong Waterkeeper voice on Great Lakes related issues that is based on our grassroots strengths;
3. Enhance fundraising and organizational capacity of member groups;
4. Foster local interest to recruit additional Waterkeeper programs in the region in strategic areas;
5. Improve communication and collaboration among both U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes programs; and
6. Enforce environmental laws in the Great Lakes Region.

Recent Victories:  

Great Lakes Waterkeepers worked collectively to help craft and pass the Great Lakes Compact, which regulates in-basin consumption of Great Lakes water as well as water diversions outside of the Great Lakes Basin. Waterkeepers also banded together to help defeat the U.S. Coast Guard’s proposal to test live ammunition in the Great Lakes and to create “safety zones” where recreational boats could not pass.