FLOW (For Love of Water) has developed model legislation to protect water quality, advance water equity, ensure that the waters of the State remain a public resource, and provide communities and water utilities with a steady source of funding to address water affordability and infrastructure needs.
The key provisions of the legislation address long-standing, increasingly intractable problems of water equity and social justice, and protect the public’s abiding interest in Michigan’s water resources.
The proposed legislation:
- Ensures that the waters of the Great Lakes and their tributary rivers and streams remain in the public domain and are protected against privatization and financialization.
- Affirms the Public Trust Doctrine as the framework for the protection and management of public waters.
- Prevents commodification of public water by imposing a royalty on bottled public water that is paid by water bottling companies – legally distinct from a “tax” or “special assessment.” Raises approximately $300 million annually to address water affordability, water equity, and needed infrastructure improvements.
Surveys by the International Joint Commission show that 90 percent of residents of the Great Lakes region prioritize protecting the waters of the Great Lakes. The proposed legislation protects our water resources, affirms public rights in our waters, prohibits the sale of water except for bottled water authorized by a royalty and licensing system recoups royalties derived from these bottled water sales, and directs the funds toward public infrastructure and investment.
The legislation imposes a royalty of 25 cents per gallon on the sale of public water, which would raise approximately $300 million annually. The royalty collected is then placed in a fund to be used to improve water infrastructure and help disadvantaged households pay for water services. The legislation affirms the Public Trust Doctrine — the historic jurisprudential principle that holds that the waters of Michigan are a public trust, our citizens are the beneficiaries of that public trust, and that the government must act as a fiduciary in ensuring that public trust waters are protected from impairment and appropriation.
The legislation defines “waters of the state” broadly to include “groundwater, lakes, rivers, and streams and all other watercourses and waters, including the Great Lakes, within the territorial boundaries of the state.” This inclusive definition serves as an implicit recognition that all waters are part of the hydrologic cycle.
