Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/water/page/50/)
Includes water quality, quantity and use.
Dam removal in the Great Lakes region exposes nutrient-rich bottomlands.
That creates prime real estate for invasive plants.
Restoration solutions include poisoning the invaders with pesticides and spreading native plant seeds to revegetate the bottomlands.
A mobile app developed in Kenya and aimed at tackling water problems there could have applications elsewhere, including the water-rich Great Lakes region. The app, MajiRipoti, recently won the 2012 Nokia DoGood Hackathon competition. It allows users to report water theft and water and sewer pipe leakages to Kenya’s Water Service Providers. Its developer believes that similar citizen-based technologies will be useful in tackling water availability problems in other areas of the world, as well. “What prompted us to work on the application was the frequent water shortages we are experiencing in Kenya, as well as the major problem of burst water and sewer pipes,” said Douglas Injugu, head of operations at the Synacor Consortium, the company that developed the app.
Great Lakes Echo looked at the toxic brew that Indiana’s Grand Calumet River carries to Lake Michigan yesterday.
Today: A look at the multi-million dollar investment in its recovery.
It’s an investment not only in the river but in the near shore ecosystem of Lake Michigan.
Here’s a look at the toxic brew Indiana’s Grand Calumet River carries to Lake Michigan. Municipal and industrial effluent make up 90 percent of the river’s flow. But there’s hope for what is one of the nation’s most polluted rivers.
Folk rocker and scholar Mark Pedelty plays for the Hypoxic Punks to better understand how music influences environmental attitudes.
PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O’Brien proved just how far he’s willing to go for a story as he plumbed the murky depths of Detroit, Mich.’s sewer system. His report on the problems facing America’s waste water infrastructure and the various methods being explored to improve it took him below the city streets to a world of unsung heroes, strange new smells, and looming challenges for the Great Lakes region and the nation. Watch A Journey to Confront Our Aging Water Systems on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
Great Lakes beaches are important indicators of ecosystem health.
They are plagued by sewer overflows, leaky septic tanks, polluted stormwater and invasive species.
A U.S. Coast Guardsman stationed in Buffalo wrote a children’s book about his adventures on the Straits of Mackinacas seen through the eyes of an adopted dog, Onyx. Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Benson began writing the book from his original home in St. Ignace, Mich. because his three daughters would often ask why he would be gone for days, according to this story from WGRZ news in Buffalo. His family now lives in Buffalo where the book has been published.
An island chain in the waters of Lake Erie between Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario finds itself at the center of the latest in a series of water-inspired musical compositions from Ohio-based GC Creative Studio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3RE7jjlxokg#! The Lake Erie Islands have been popular Great Lakes tourist destinations for many years, featuring restaurants, shopping, entertainment venues, vineyards, and a variety of other attractions. This summer, however, it was the archipelago’s natural beauty that drew musicians Greg Slawson and his wife Candice Lee, co-founders of GC Creative Studio. “We believe that the Lake Erie Islands are among this region’s greatest natural treasures,” said Slawson.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will spend $2.35 million on a dam management program in 2013, the first time the department has been granted money by the Legislature to address problems of aging dams.