The future of two Great Lakes could rest on a small shipping channel that forms a border between lower Michigan and Canada.

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are losing millions of gallons of water daily, according to a study conducted by F.D. Baird and Associates in January.

The study blames the loss of water on a shipping channel that was dredged out of the St. Clair River in 1962. The St. Clair River flows south out of Lake Huron.

This shipping channel opened up a drain hole in the Great Lakes, according to John Pepperell, president of the Georgian Bay Association, the Canadian group that funded the study.

"The dredging project pulled the plug in the bathtub," he said.

Pepperell said that the channel was originally dug to a depth of 27 feet, but it has since eroded in important places. The channel is now 60 feet deep at the point where the river meets Lake Huron, Pepperell said.

The problem with this erosion is that it allows water to flow out of Lake Huron at an increased pace, which immediately affects the water levels in both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, according to Pepperell.

"Since about 1970 the erosion has caused Lake Michigan to lose about a foot (of water)," he said.

Pepperell said some steps could have been taken to prevent the current situation.

"If there had been an organized body to monitor situations like this, we may not be in the position we are currently in," he said.

Groups like Pepperell's are only small groups and for any progress to be made the government needs to step in, he said.

Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-Mich.) is heeding the call. Miller is requesting $2.5 million to research possible solutions to the problem, according to Jamie Roe, Miller's press secretary.

Roe said a portion of the funding would be spent on an additional study that would help prove or disprove the findings of the F.D. Baird study. The funding will also be used to design a three-dimensional model that will help determine water flow in the St. Clair River.

"Being able to see the water flow in the St. Clair River will help us come up with possible solutions, if the problems presented in the study are proven true," Roe said.

But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit branch, disagrees with the erosion theory.

One of the main things that prompted the study was Lake Erie's water level began gaining ground on both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, according to Scott Thieme, chief of the Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office for the corps.

The corps attributes Lake Erie's gain in part to what they refer to as crustal rebound, Thieme said.

"Crustal rebound is a theory that was dispelled quickly in the (F.W. Baird) study even though it warrants attention," Thieme said.

Thieme said crustal rebound refers to parts of the Great Lake basin that are still recovering from the weight of the glaciers. As the basin begins to recover, the Earth's crust rises and the level of the water appears to rise with it.

"As the crust recovers in downstream lakes, like Lake Erie, it appears as if the water levels in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are receding but in reality they are not," Thieme said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 10 2005.