Groups link to protect water in Great Lakes

The Post-Tribune (Northwest Indiana) has this article outlining state and local governmental actions to clean up the Great Lakes:

Kay Nelson, the environmental director of the Northwest Indiana Forum, was one of more than 1,500 representatives of government and nongovernment agencies who worked together during the past year to draft a comprehensive strategy for the Great Lakes. Their effort, called the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, pulled together and prioritized ideas for improving the lakes.

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, signed Dec. 12 in Chicago, outlines a 15-year strategy for cleaning up and restoring the Great Lakes and their surroundings. The next day, the governors of eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces signed an agreement to prevent new or increased water withdrawals from the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin. An update of the Great Lakes Charter, a 1985 agreement, it also requires states and provinces to implement water conservation programs.