The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has released a new report that urges the United States Congress to act to lessen the impact of global warming on the Great Lakes. The report synthesizes the current global warming and warns that warming temperatures will have direct impacts on the lakes including lower lake levels, more sewage overflows, and increased pressure to divert Great Lakes water to other regions.

Specifically, the report describes the following likely impacts:

* Daily high temperatures in the region will increase 5.4 to 10.8 degrees relative to what was typical from 1961-1990, with wintertime temperatures increasing even more than summer temperatures.

* Increased evaporation from warming lakes--particularly in winter--is expected to result in less ice cover, contributing to lower water levels and increases in lake-effect snow.

* Lake levels could drop during the next century by approximately 1 foot on Lake Superior, 3 feet on Lakes Michigan and Huron, 2.7 feet on Lake Erie, and 1.7 feet on Lake Ontario.

* Water quality will likely worsen as more intense storm events will send polluted urban and agricultural runoff to our waterways, leading to drinking water impacts, beach closings, and higher costs to water suppliers.

* Biological dead zones will increase, jeopardizing fish and other aquatic life.

* Great Lakes forests and grasslands will change as plants adapted to the area confront increasingly unsuitable habitat. The ranges of some plants and animals will shift northward, while other creatures will vanish.

The report--timed to coincide with a debate over global warming legislation in the US Senate--advocates the following federal policy solutions:

* Restoring the Great Lakes through full funding and implementation of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy, a comprehensive plan put forward by more than 1,500 citizens and backed by the region's mayors, governors and Congressional delegation;

* Protecting the Great Lakes from water diversions by passing the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact, a regional agreement to ban diversions outside the region and promoting conservation within the region;

* Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit the magnitude of change to our climate and ecosystems; and,

* Generating ecosystem restoration funding through federal global warming legislation.

For additional background information on the impact of global warming on the Great Lakes, the organization has posted a PowerPoint presentation with more details on the impact of warming temperatures.