The money cities such as St. Catharines spend to clean up the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway has finally been formally recognized.

The province has agreed to consult municipalities surrounding the waterways before making any further decisions about them.

Mayor Brian McMullan, a board member of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Initiative, the five-year-old group representing 55 municipalities on both sides of the border, said the Great Lakes Pact signed in Toronto on July 17 will ensure cities are treated as equal partners by other levels of government.

"It really signaled that for the first time, at least in a formal way, municipalities are being recognized by the provincial government and by extension the federal government as true partners with respect to preservation and protection of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence water basin and that we'll be consulted as a true partner," he said.

Toronto Mayor David Miller said the agreement sets a framework for negotiations between the municipalities, the province and both American and Canadian governments.

"We need our national governments, who are jointly responsible for this globally significant bi-national fresh water drinking system, to come to the table as equal partners showing the same political and financial commitment as our local governments," he said.

John Gerretsen, Minister of the Environment for Ontario, said he and his counterparts in other provinces realize it's time to recognize the municipalities are full members in the negotiation process for the bodies of water.

"The two senior levels of government can pass on the dictates, on the policies etc. But in most cases we rely on our municipal partners to actually deliver the various programs," he said. "It's time to recognize cities and towns are full partners in this."

The initiative, along with the Great Lakes Commission, recently released a report detailing the amount of money spent on water infrastructure and programs by municipalities, which equals $15 billion annually, said Miller.

By contrast, he said, both the Canadian and American government spend about $700 million water quality programs.

The U.S. environmental protection agency estimates a $73 billion deficit alone in waste water infrastructure, he added.

Canada has a $10 billion deficit and requires an additional $10 billion to clean up areas of concern, he said.

He called on both governments to assist the initiative in the more then $100 billion needed for restoration and preservation of theses bodies of water.

McMullan said the agreement is a first step towards gaining funding to tackle this deficit, something cities cannot do on their own.

"To meet the enormous infrastructure needs we would clearly need support, financial support from the federal, provincial and state levels of government," he said.

He said he's optimistic about the initiative's chances of success in obtaining funding, as the less than a decade-old body is already making a difference. Last year, it successfully lobbied the U.S. military to abandon plans to hold live ammunition drills on the Great Lakes, arguing it amounted to an inappropriate level of lead contamination.

"It's already having an impact and we believe it will continue to do so and have an even greater impact in the years to come," he said.

-- with files from Shane Buckingham