A group of US and Canadian mayors is hoping to steer past Donald Trump in its effort to clean up our waterways.
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is a coalition of more than 130 mayors, including Sarnia's Mike Bradley, that's dedicated to protecting and restoring freshwater lakes.
CEO and President John Dickert, the former mayor of Racine, Wisconsin, met with Mayor Bradley recently to discuss a number of issues.
Dickert said one issue that's hurting their efforts is the Trump administration.
"They wanted to cut out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding in total, so $300 million gone. The day that the president announced that, we were in Washington, and the line in the hallway of senators and congressman that wanted to come into our breakfast and tell everyone this isn't happening, I've never seen anything like it."
Dickert said there's been a "shift in the lake" since Trump was elected, and that Canadian mayors are now "leading the charge."
Since 2003, the initiative has looked at ways to improve infrastructure, programs and services, and increase investments for a resource that represents about 20 per cent of the world's freshwater supply, and provides drinking water for 40 million people.
Bradley, who's been a member for 15 years, said the group has also benefited Sarnia's waterfront.
"When I first came to Sarnia, [the waterfront] was all just tenements, factories and all of that stuff. We now own all the waterfront, the public does, and it's kept in the public interest," he said. "You learn what other [mayors] are doing, and most of the cases, their waterfronts and their downtowns are like this."
Bradley said more can still be done to improve the waterfront, such as adding a destination tourism attraction, and adding more water-related events, like next year's Tall Ship Festival.