St. Lawrence River Remedial Action Plan

The St. Lawrence River at Cornwall (Ontario) and Massena (New York State) was designated as a binational Area of Concern (AOC) in 1987 under the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. 43 problem areas or Areas of Concern were identified in the Great Lakes where waters were considered heavily polluted. Of these, 12 were located in Canada and 5 were located in boundary waters shared between the U.S. and Canada. The remaining are located in the United States. The St. Lawrence bi-national AOC extends along the river on the Canadian side from the Moses Saunders Dam in the west to the Ontario/Quebec border in the east, and includes the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne Territory. On the south side of the river, the Massena/Akwesasne jurisdiction is shared between the United States, New York State and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe.

A Remedial Action Plan process was initiated for the St. Lawrence River (Cornwall) on the Canadian side and was developed by what was then Environment Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne in conjunction with the St. Lawrence River Public Advisory Committee. The goal was to characterize the water quality issues and identify specific remedial actions needed to improve the health of the River. The plan focuses on restoring ecological impairments that were due to historic human activity.