A system using satellite images and current predictions warns water treatment plant operators when to treat water to avoid four odors and taste. Now the forecasts are available to the public to help make swim decisions.

If you’re following Echo on Twitter, make sure that you’re following the GreatLakesEcho username and not GreatLakes_Echo.
You caught the difference, right? The second has that little underscore between Lakes and Echo.
Both usernames exist, but Echo will concentrate fresh tweets on GreatLakesEcho – the one without the underscore. The one with the annoying little line will soon go away.
So how’d we get two Twitter user names? I could tell you it is all part of a complex social media strategy that’s just too difficult to explain here.
But the embarrassing reality …

In 1813 young naval commander Oliver Hazard Perry led the warship Niagara to victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie. Today Lake Erie is a battleground for a different water conflict.

Imagine ordering a beer at a bar, looking at the coaster your glass was just put on and seeing your artwork – photographic or otherwise.
That’s what Great Lakes Forever’s seventh annual photo contest proposes to do with winning photos and artwork.
Submit an image or artwork related to the Great Lakes region, showing its unique landscape and the communities living on its shores and you could also win other prizes.
The original art category is a new approach this year. While photographers, professional and amateur, have entered their images in the past, …

With a week to go before the deadline of July 15, artists and Michigan natives Rob Gorski and Andrew Ranville have met their $12,500 goal for the artist residency on Rabbit Island.
As of the afternoon of July 8, the funding page on Kickstarter.com had 131 backers who had pledged over $13,000 to the goal of establishing a permanent artist residency on the 91-acre island.
Rabbit Island is located three miles off the Eastern shore of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula, in Lake Superior.
Although the goal was reached, people can still contribute to the …

Federal funding has taken a hit and Asian carp control muddles along.
That’s nothing compared to eroding environmental protection by the Great Lakes states.

Fourteen people have drowned in the Great Lakes since May 22, bringing this year’s total to 23, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project.
The latest victim was five-year-old Tyon McNeil of Harvey, Ill., who died Sunday night in Lake Michigan. The drowning caused this year’s total so far to pass the total for this time last year.
Bob Pratt and Dave Benjamin have launched this summer a campaign to bring awareness to rip currents, which are the primary cause of drownings in the Great Lakes. Their next event is July …

When it comes to regulating septic systems, Michigan is a loner.

It lacks statewide regulations to oversee the permitting and operations for close to 1.5 million of the onsite systems that dispose of human waste.

Two urban entrepreneurs have found Flint’s farm potential.

They see a promising convergence of low-cost land and a need for fresh produce grown nearby.

With video