Some help on Lake Ontario water levels.

Quinte area municipalities have won a victory of sorts in the bid to lower water levels in Lake Ontario this spring.

Quinte area communities have been calling for officials to allow more water to flow through the Moses-Saunders dam at Cornwall, to get the Lake Ontario water levels down because of flooding expected this spring.

Now, the International Joint Commission has agreed to delay the opening of shipping season by ten days, allowing more water to flow through the Moses-Saunders Dam at Cornwall.

Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison, along with other municipal leaders have been calling for the dam to be lowered.

Harrison tells Quinte News, “This is a good move”in the campaign.

Quinte area communities along the lake shore were hit by a great deal of flooding last year, and anticipate more again this year.

A delegation consisting of Mayor Harrison, Mayor Steve Ferguson of Prince Edward County and Belleville Councillor Bill Sandison met recently in Ottawa with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Global Affairs officials in Ottawa on the issue of allowing more water out of Lake Ontario to counteract the flooding.

Meanwhile, the shipping industry, through the Chamber of Marine Commerce, has expressed concerns about the delay affecting the supply of many products on the Great Lakes trade and transportation corridor.

The shipping season was expected to open March 20 but will now be delayed until April first.

The Chamber of Marine Commerce, which met with government officials in Ottawa earlier this week, indicated in a statement released Wednesday, that it is “disappointed that the opening of the navigation season in the Montreal-Lake Ontario (MLO) section of the St. Lawrence Seaway has been delayed to April 1 to allow more outflow from Moses-Saunders Dam.”

President Bruce Burrows explained the chamber’s view, “Grain exports are ready to go and our food production, steel and manufacturing customers urgently need raw materials as their winter inventories are running out. They cannot afford any further delays that could affect factory operations.”

“Given the current disruption impacting Canada’s national railways, we certainly do not need delays of transportation of critical supplies and products on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway transportation and trade corridor.”

Burrows added, “High water levels are negatively impacting residents and businesses, including those that depend on St. Lawrence Seaway shipping, and going forward, we need to work together to develop a much broader, holistic resiliency plan that that looks at every avenue including flood zoning, shoreline resiliency and infrastructure investments for residents and business owners.”