Great Lakes WATER Institute Great Lakes WATER Institute Great Lakes WATER Institute (also known as the WATER Institute, Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research Institute, GLWI) is a freshwater research center of the University of Wisconsin System administered by the Graduate School of University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Located on Milwaukee's inner harbor, it is the only major aquatic research institution located on Lake Michigan and the largest of its kind in the Great Lakes region. The WATER Institute is both a UW-Milwaukee Center of Excellence and a UW System Regents Center of Excellence. It became the main component of UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences in
Great Lakes Basin million people. The basin hosts eight of Canada's 20 largest cities, including Toronto, Hamilton, London, St. Catharines, Niagara, Oshawa, Windsor, and Barrie. The United States cities of Duluth, Milwaukee, Chicago, Gary, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, and Rochester, are located on shores of the Great Lakes. Each individual lake forms a sub-basin, such as the Lake Erie Basin, and each sub-basin consists of multiple watersheds, such as Pennsylvania's Lake Erie Watershed. The overall Great Lakes Basin is monitored by the binational Great Lakes Commission. Quebec, a portion of whose lands drain into the St. Lawrence Basin, is a signatory to