TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) A scientific panel says Lakes Huron and Michigan aren't losing extra billions of gallons of water daily because of navigational dredging as a Canadian group contends.

After a two-year, $3.5 million study, the U.S.-Canadian panel concluded there was no reason to stem the flow from Lake Huron by placing structures in a river that connects Huron with Lake Erie to the south.

The report released Tuesday disagreed with Georgian Bay Forever. That's a Canadian environmental charity that has commissioned engineering studies of the St. Clair River. Those studies found that human activities enlarged the river bottom and increased the volume of water moving down the river from Lake Huron to Lake Erie.

But the government panel says Lake Huron is no longer losing unnaturally high volumes of water.

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