Efforts in works for 6th Great Lake

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A suburban Detroit official said he is gradually building support for designating Lake St. Clair one of the Great Lakes.\nMacomb Water Quality Board Chairman Doug Martz said he was told privately the Wayne County Board of Commissioners would support the effort. A committee of the Wayne County board asked Martz to state in a letter why the 420-square-mile lake should get the designation, he said.\nThe justification for the designation is that "4 1/2 million people get their drinking water from Lake St. Clair," Martz said. "It affects everyone in the region."\nBackers think Great Lakes status could bring more federal funding to the polluted lake and help the shipping industry. Opponents think the move is unnecessary and that the number of Great Lakes should remain at the traditional five.\nA request to recommend to Congress that the designation be approved was to have gone before the Great Lakes Commission last month in Cleveland. But supporters withheld it amid fears it would be voted down.\nThe commission told Martz to collect resolutions of support from communities in the region, and to submit them at next year's meeting. Supporters on record so far include St. Clair Shores and Belle River, Ontario, located 20 miles east of Detroit on Lake St. Clair's south shore.\nLetters seeking support from the boards of commissioners in Macomb, Oakland and St. Clair counties were drafted Tuesday, Martz said.