The St.Lawrence River is an integral part of North American society. The river acts as an important waterway for fishing, shipping and receiving, for the manufacturing industry situated on or near the river shoreline, for agriculture and for urban populations both recreationally and in terms of livelihood as well as indigenous populations using it for cultural traditions. It is a shared geographic border between Canada and the United States of America and there are currently 15 million and 30 million people from those countries respectively that live within the river basin. The St.Lawrence also houses a bevy of flora and fauna in the aquatic and land ecosystems within the river itself and its basin. That being said, The St.Lawrence River in and of itself is a “wicked problem”. It is a wicked problem in that there are many interacting and dynamic systems act work within the basin, numerous different values placed on river usage, ever changing physical characteristics and social dependencies that lead to a measure of uncertainty and that there is no concrete, one fits all solution to satisfy all of these aspects at once.
In terms of interacting systems along the St.Lawrence, we should consider that the agriculture and manufacturing industry and the aquatic and land ecosystems are situated together. It is difficult to determine what takes precedence as agriculture and manufacturing provide enormous economic benefit while monitoring the aquatic and land ecosystems can help determine the viability of which those former activities are entrenched within. To help resolve and remediate issues of conflict between Canada and the United States of America regarding shared bodies of water and in particular the St.Lawrence River, the two countries established the International Joint Commission(IJC) in the early 20th century. To date the IJC has helped resolve over a 100 matters brought up by the U.S and Canadian governments. An effort that involved both countries was a study in 2000 looking at the environment and recreational boating interests in Lake Ontario and the St.Lawrence that were overlooked in previous agreements. The IJC suggested that a committee comprised of members of the IJC, both federal governments as well as state and provincial governments be put together to help achieve goals in maintaining the integrity of the Great Lake-St.Lawrence basin. It should be noted that there are other stakeholders involved with the management of the St.Lawrence and those include First Nations, non-profit organizations, local municipalities and also education and research groups.
Considering the local flora and fauna that are situated in the St.Lawrence there is also the problem of invasive species. Invasive species affect local species in that they may proliferate in the area and may possibly even overtake local species. This can have unforeseen consequences as the change in species may in turn change the ecosystem marginally or significantly. Some invasive species of note in the St.Lawrence are Purple Loosestrife and Zebra Mussels. These species were mostly brought unknowingly to the river basin however the problem now lies in how to eradicate them or minimize their extent.
Since the St.Lawrence houses manufacturing, agriculture and urban populations effluent is a major issue. Pollution from industry and agriculture discharge harmful chemicals such pesticides into the St.Lawrence. More recently the city of Montreal has decided to dump raw sewage into the river also. The consequences on the aquatic species in the region will be difficult to determine at this time as well as the potential negative effects on the environment as a whole.
http://www.ec.gc.ca/stl/
http://www.ec.gc.ca/stl/default.asp?lang=En&n=0ADE85C3-1
http://planstlaurent.qc.ca/en/state_monitoring/monitoring_sheets.html
http://planstlaurent.qc.ca/en/integrated_management/acteurs.html
http://planstlaurent.qc.ca/en/state_monitoring/overview_of_the_state_of_the_st_lawrence_2014.html#c2747
http://www.ijc.org/en_/IJC_History
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/sewage-dump-st-laurent-water-quality-1.3323469