The IJC settles water disputes between the USA and Canada. The organization was established by the 1909 International Boundary Waters Treaty. The IJC has been more successful in diffusing distributive water issues rather than regulatory. Afterall everybody gets something with distributive policies while regulatory policies aim to change behaviors. This short article written by Mike Vlasveld was published in the Blackburn News. The link to the article is attached: The International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Regional Office is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Director, Dr. Saad Jasim says the relationship between Canada and the United States, shared at the Windsor office, is very unique. “We had a Chinese delegation come to our office and they had problems dealing with waters shared by provinces within the same country, and they can’t get an agreement on that,” says Jasim. “They said, ‘how can you get agreements and (the IJC) be going for 100-years?’ I said, ‘That’s by good dialogue, good understanding, and improvement of communication.’” Jasim says 40-million people live along the Great Lakes, and use the water for drinking, fishing, and recreation. He explains that it’s the job of his office to ensure the quality of the water is as high as possible. Most recently, the director says they held a workshop where 40 scientists from both countries sat down for two days to discuss algae bloom issues in Lake Erie. http://blackburnnews.com/windsor/windsor-news/2013/03/07/ijc-office-celebrates-40th/