Great Lakes Mayors to make announcement on water conservation

Jul 12th, 2007 4:36 AM

MEDIA ADVISORY Mayors to make announcement on water conservation at the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Annual Meeting and Press Conference in Grand Rapids July 11 to 13 Mayors from U.S. and Canada also urge federal governments to 'modernize' bi-national agreements on Great Lakes, include the St. Lawrence River What: The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative and its members will announce significant progress in its Water Conservation Challenge and will call on Canadian and United States governments to pass environmental legislation protecting the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Who: Mayor David Miller of Toronto, Mayor George Heartwell of Grand Rapids, Mayor Gary Becker of Racine and Mayor Helen Fotopoulos of Plateau-Mont-Royal will address the media and answer questions. Why: As the world's largest source of fresh water, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River are essential to the continued vitality of cities, townships, villages and counties along their shores. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River represent nearly 20 percent of the world's surface freshwater supply and provide drinking water for more than 40 million United States and Canadian citizens. Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative members will call on Canadian and U.S. governments to open the outdated Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to create a modernized approach to Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River protection. When/Where: The mayors will make an announcement about water conservation and protecting the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River at a press conference on July 12 at noon EST. The press conference will be held in the Chase Board Room on the River Overlook of DeVos Place, the new convention center on 303 Monroe Avenue NW in downtown Grand Rapids. To call in for the conference, dial 605.990.0550 and enter participant access code 821925#. The Annual Meeting will be held from July 11 to 13 in the Steelcase Ballroom C at DeVos Place. To register, please visit www.glslcities.org/annual or call Chad Parker at 404.358.5055. Contacts: Chad Parker cparker@a5inc.com Ph. 312.706.2532 Cell. 404.358.5055 John Harris jharris@a5inc.com Ph. 312.706.2529 Cell. 708.227.5313 Nicola Crawhall nicola.crawhall@glslcities.org Ph. 416.463.4938 Cell. 416.432.2739