Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/water-quality/page/17/)
This tag is further segmented with tags for pharmaceuticals, plastics, sewage, algae
It was first found in the St Lawrence Seaway and then Lake Erie. Now it has been identified on Lake St. Clair. The species forms thick mats and can cause skin, oral and gastrointestinal problems.
A program for fixing sewers is at risk because of the federal budget crisis. It comes as climate change is expected to bring more heavy rains that cause sewers to overflow. Advocates say the program helps struggling cities, the environment, the economy.
The emerging threat of pharmaceuticals, everyday chemicals and personal care products in drinking water may be the most difficult that water treatment plants have faced.
A recent study has discovered dense pockets of micro-plastics in the Great Lakes. Such tiny plastics may enter the food chain. The health implications are unclear and debated.
Have the Great Lakes seemed a little less chilly in the past few years? It’s probably because the Great Lakes, like 95 percent of the world’s lakes, are warming. According to National Geographic, researchers from all over are trying to understand the repercussions of increasing lake temperatures. The Global Lake Temperature Collaboration is a network of researchers, including Great Lakes scientists, collecting data about lakes worldwide. The groups first meeting this summer allowed participants to share, analyze and compile findings.
Drug take-back programs may be technically illegal in Michigan.
Proposed legislation establishes guidelines that would help dispose of drugs that can contaminate water, threaten wildlife and are difficult to treat.
Earthworms help soil retain moisture.
And their tunnels helps the roots of cover crops penetrate more deeply into soil.
That kind of action reduces the amount of water running off the land and carrying the nutrients that can nourish explosive algae growth in the Great Lakes.
For the first time ever, federal authorities are banning an antibiotic in livestock because of fears that some diseases in people are becoming resistant to it.
Communities often struggle finding ways to dispose of household drugs. Michigan officials are funding community programs in an effort to keep the drugs out of water sources.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has proposed a compromise to a controversial law, and the new bill highlights the complexities around the region’s water compact.