Although the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin contains the largest global store of fresh water, long-term groundwater storage (GWS) decline has been observed in some aquifers supplying communities that intensely use the resource. We consider a hallmark of effective groundwater use policy to be the regulation of aquifer pumping rates consistent with the physical-environmental determinants of sustainable aquifer yield. In this context, we examine policies, from the binational to municipal governance levels, to identify features that can lead to GWS decline in aquifers supplying these communities. As the physical-environmental characteristics determining sustainable yield span many climates and geological settings within the Basin, our findings highlight the need for policies to adapt to local conditions. We urge devolving more management roles to municipal level institutions which, as the nexus between people and central government, may be better poised to set policies in a participatory manner considering the unique physical-environmental characteristics of the aquifers on which their communities rely.

尽管Laurentian大湖流域拥有全球最大的淡水存储量，但在一些用水量很大的社区的含水层供应中，长期地下水存储量（GWS）有所下降。我们认为有效的地下水使用政策的标志是对含水层抽水速率的调节，与可持续含水层产量的物理环境决定因素一致。在这种情况下，我们研究了从双边治理到市政治理的各种政策，以确定可能导致供应这些社区的含水层中GWS下降的特征。由于决定可持续产量的自然环境特征跨越流域内的许多气候和地质环境，我们的研究结果突显了必须采取适应当地条件的政策。