This signal tracks the evolving relationship between Buffalo and its water. It covers lakefront development, environmental health of Lake Erie and the Niagara River, climate impacts on water levels and ice patterns, recreational and tourism investment, and the long-term opportunity and risk of being a freshwater city in a warming world.
Why We Track This
Buffalo sits on one of the world’s most valuable natural resources: fresh water. As climate change intensifies droughts, heat, and resource scarcity across the globe, the Great Lakes region is quietly becoming one of the most strategically important places on the planet. That’s a remarkable asset, and a responsibility. How Buffalo develops its waterfront, protects Lake Erie, and positions itself as a freshwater city will shape its economy, its identity, and its long-term resilience for generations. We watch this vertical because the water is both Buffalo’s past and its future.
