Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/water/page/6/)
Includes water quality, quantity and use.
In our newest TikTok, Echo reporter Caroline Miller discusses a recent study that documents the first sighting of an invasive species, European frogbit, in Wisconsin and says that it could threaten native plants, fish and invertebrates.
July is our warmest month, its steamy days and sticky nights giving us a little taste of the tropics. When we look for ways to beat July’s heat, we often end up in the water – sprinklers, backyard pools, or one of Michigan’s many lakes. So let’s take a few minutes on this hot July day to think about how cool water is.
The Clean Water Act provides us with 50 years of useful imperfection. We should apply it’s lessons to the environmental challenges facing us today – and perhaps be a less patient as we chase perfect solutions.
The Lake Michigan and Lake Huron waters governed by an 1836 treaty are at the heart of negotiations between Michigan, the federal government and Native American tribes to determine how much and what kinds of fish can be harvested. Much has changed since the treaty was signed in 1836, notably because of invasive mussels. But human activity changed the lakes long before then.
How the shape of the Great Lakes now compares with their past is important as negotiators update the consent decree addressing commercial and recreational fishing interests in waters covered by an 1836 treaty. The deadline is at the end of June, the third such decree covering these contentious waters. The most recent one in 2000 was for 20 years, and it’s overdue for an update.
Michigan watersheds are still wracked with pollution from decades ago, along with new runoff. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan would make preserving land and water a statewide priority.
While forests are known to enhance the water quality of nearby watersheds, oftentimes people don’t recognize forests’ role in providing clean drinking water, according to a new study from Michigan State University. The research was conducted at three watersheds in Michigan: the heavily urbanized Detroit River Watershed, the less populated and heavily forested Au Sable River Watershed and the more populated agricultural, forested and urban Lower Grand River Watershed.
“Glenn’s Island” in the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh was formed of sludge illegally discharged from the nearby Aspinwall Drinking Water Plant. And some plant employees nicknamed it for retired supervisor Glenn Lijewski, who is awaiting sentencing for conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act.
Michigan Sea Grant recently announced four new research projects with one common goal — protecting the Great Lakes. It committed almost $1 million to the projects, including $225,000 from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. In addition, university research partners contributed over $500,000 in matching funds. Their major topics are water use, walleye, invasive mussel larvae and harmful algae blooms.
As the megadrought in the Western U.S. worsens, calls for freshwater diversions from the Great Lakes to the West have grown increasingly popular. Water diversion from the Great Lakes harms not only the ecosystem, but also the cultural significance of water, according to Michigan environmental policy expert.