A bunch of 20 and odd universities are coming together to study the lakes of the 'Great Lakes' region.

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University at Buffalo, Wayne State University are some of the universities involved in the project aimed at finding long-term solutions to save the lakes from environmental degradation.

It is called the Great Lakes Futures Project which will begin with a series of papers describing factors that have affected the lakes over the past 50 years and those expected to have an effect in the next 50 years. The factors being covered will include invasive species, climate change, the economy and chemical pollution, reports Detroit News.

The initiative will also train the next generation of scientists, attorneys, planners and policy specialists who will study the lakes in future.

The project will also include producing scholarly and popular publications and conduct public events with schools and community groups.

The Great Lakes area on the Canada-U.S. border consists of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario forming the largest freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water and more than 80 percent of the water in North America.

It is also home to more than 35 million people -- 30 percent of the Canadian population and 10 percent of the U.S. population is expected to grow by 20 million people in the next 20 years. The current economic output of the basin is one of the largest in the world.

Hence, the basin needs to be preserved to be able to meet the demands of future years.

"With the recent release of the revised Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, this is a critical time to take action, engaging across the disciplines and our border to chart a more protected future for this precious resource," said Kathryn Friedman, a research professor at University at Buffalo and U.S. principal investigator on the initiative.

The Canadian universities involved in the project are Guelph University, McMaster University, Queens University, Trent University, University of Toronto, University of Windsor, Ryerson University, Waterloo University, Western University, York University, McGill University, Seneca College, Universite de Montreal and the Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres.