During Drinking Water Week, recognized May 1-7 by the State of Michigan and nationally, filling knowledge gaps is a critical priority. Knowing the source of your drinking water is crucial, and so is knowing about threats to its safety and legal and environmental defenses to prevent its contamination.
On March 30, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a $4.7 billion bill that includes almost $2 billion for water infrastructure. Overwhelming majorities of the State House and Senate approved the bill on March 24. Relying heavily on federal COVID-19 relief and infrastructure dollars, the legislation funds wastewater and drinking water projects, efforts to curb… Read more »
You’ve heard, no doubt, of Greta Thunberg, the 19-year-old Swedish environmental activist. But you have probably not heard yet of Bebe Schaefer and Rachel Roberts, two students at American University in Washington, D.C., who recently launched the nonprofit organization Water&, on a “constant journey of collective action.” We at FLOW are thrilled to join hands with Water& and other young adult-led organizations in the Great Lakes Basin, and in our nation’s capital, to expand hope and leadership in the protection of our public waters. We intend this effort to support not just the youth climate movement, but also help feed the emerging“youth water movement” focused on a clean environment, public health, and equitable outcomes.
An unseen resource, Michigan’s groundwater provides drinking water to more than 4 million Michiganders, supports agricultural irrigation and manufacturing, and contributes a significant portion of the inflow to the Great Lakes. But there is still another reason to protect Michigan’s groundwater: conservation of our state’s biological diversity. Groundwater is critical to valuable species and their habitats, including cold water trout streams like the Au Sable River–and a rare wildflower found exclusively in Michigan.
Editor’s Note: FLOW submitted the following comments today to the Michigan Public Service Commission in advance of the MPSC’s March 17, 2022, public meeting regarding Enbridge’s oil tunnel proposed through public bottomlands in the Straits of Mackinac. See the MPSC’s March 17 meeting agenda, and learn about the opportunity to comment in person or online…. Read more »
Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2019 charged the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) with developing and implementing a “Healthy Climate Plan” to achieve Michigan’s greenhouse-gas reduction targets and otherwise prepare for and adapt to climate impacts that are now unavoidable. But EGLE’s draft MI Healthy Climate Plan is an imperfect response to this charge. Please join FLOW in helping EGLE improve the draft by emailing your public comments by the March 14 deadline.
In a proposed budget with major increases thanks to a booming state economy and massive amounts of federal infrastructure and COVID-19 relief funding, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday announced important investments in environmental programs. As an aide to the governor said, “budgets are a reflection of values.” The Governor’s office characterized Gov. Whitmer’s environmental recommendations as record amounts for protection of water, including the replacement of lead pipes, control of toxic PFAS, rebuilding water infrastructure, and providing safe drinking water in schools.
When a coalition of citizen groups, including FLOW, last fall urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect the nearly 10,000 residents of Benton Harbor from lead in their drinking water, it was a reminder that government officials have failed to heed the lessons of a half-century of Michigan environmental health disasters. Once again, Michigan’s state government had failed to act with urgency to protect the public from toxic contaminants. This week, seeking to protect Benton Harbor residents from lead as well as hoping to head off further criticism, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services promised to continue providing bottled water to the community until all lead pipes are replaced.
Not long after the arrival of COVID-19 in Michigan in early 2020, some municipal wastewater systems began monitoring for signs of the virus in their treatment plants. Later, state government funding expanded the program. Rather than waiting for cases to climb, public officials may be able to use sewage surveillance to forecast a surge of infections through monitoring. An on-line dashboard provides information on levels and trends across the state. FLOW interviewed Chelsea Wuth, Associate Public Information Officer of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, about results of the program.
A global aquatic resource under threat from drainage, filling and development is the focus of World Wetlands Day, which is observed on Wednesday, February 2. Michigan has a special stake in preventing wetland destruction and promoting wetland restoration.
