Drinking water affordability

https://greatlakes.org/2025/02/water-advocacy-at-the-ohio-statehouse-a-call-for-clean-water-policies/

In: Climate change in the Great Lakes, Drinking Water, Drinking water affordability, Environmental Justice, Lead service lines, Plastic pollution in the Great Lakes

Healing Our Waters Conference Recap: Community Voices Leading the Charge for Water Justice

On: October 11, 2024

This year’s Healing Our Waters (HOW) Conference in Chicago brought together advocates, community leaders, and passionate individuals to address major issues facing the Great Lakes, including the pressing issue of water justice. The event focused on solutions, driven by people committed to ensuring that clean water and proper sanitation are accessible to everyone—especially those living in underserved communities. Many members of the Alliance for the Great Lakes team attended the conference, led panels, and participated in planning. Over the two days, one message was clear: this is a fight for fairness, and the people on the ground are leading the charge.

Spotlight on Chicago’s Fight for Water Justice

Meleah Geertsma, Director of Clean Water and Equity at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, facilitated a thoughtful discussion on how community advocates in Chicago have been battling against unfair land use and zoning policies that have harmed neighborhoods for decades. These advocates are using a civil rights legal framework to fight for water justice, focusing especially on issues like flooding and inadequate sanitation systems. They’re not doing it alone—there’s a collaborative effort with city government to make lasting changes.

Meleah began by asking the audience key questions, like how familiar they were with environmental justice cases such as Sackett, a recent environmental law case that weakened the Clean Water Act, and Zanesville, which relied on civil rights law to address denial of water service for a community in Ohio. The responses varied, revealing that while some cases are well-known, especially environmental law decisions, there’s still a need for greater awareness and education about how civil rights law can be an effective tool in the fight for environmental justice.

Left to Right: Gaby Wagener-Sobrero, Rob Weinstock, Olga Bautista and Meleah Geertsma

Insights from the Panel

The panel brought together three leaders who have been on the frontlines of the fight for water justice:

Olga Bautista, Executive Director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, shared how years of hard work resulted in a groundbreaking agreement between the City of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She emphasized that viewing water justice through a civil rights lens has been essential in getting local government to take long-overdue action.

Rob Weinstock, Director of the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, highlighted the importance of legal support for communities. He explained that his team’s mission is to equip these communities with the legal tools they need to keep pushing for the changes they deserve.

Gaby Wagener-Sobrero, Environmental Justice Manager for the Chicago Department of Environment, spoke about the shift happening within the city government. She explained that they are now prioritizing communities that have been neglected for too long, working closely with local advocates to address water justice concerns.

More than 40 people attended the panel. The presence of a representative from the City of Chicago, working alongside community and legal experts demonstrated the growing collaboration between the government and the people who are most affected by these issues.

Celebrating Success and Looking Forward

Angela Larsen, Director of Planning and a member of the conference host committee, played a key role in shaping several discussions throughout the event. Her focus was on celebrating the successes of community-driven efforts and ensuring that future strategies are built around the voices of those most impacted by water issues. Angela made it clear: if we want real change, community vision must be at the heart of every decision.

Tom Zimnicki, the Alliance’s Agriculture & Restoration Policy Director presented on his team’s work monitoring water quality and implementing conservation practices in the Lake Erie watershed. The goal of the project is to reduce harmful algal blooms that make the lake’s water toxic to fish, wildlife, pets, and people. They’re deploying sensors in key watersheds in the Western Basin of Lake Erie to track nutrient runoff, primarily from agricultural land uses, which enters streams and tributaries to Lake Erie and fuels the algal blooms.

Hands-On Learning at Oak Street Beach

Beyond the panels, attendees were able to take part in hands-on learning during a field trip to Oak Street Beach. Hosted by the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Shedd Aquarium, and Save the Dunes, the field trip involved a beach cleanup as part of the “Great Lakes Litter Data” initiative. More than 26 participants joined in, removing over 2,000 pieces of litter—including plastic, foam, and cigarette butts. It was not only a chance to help clean the lakefront but also an opportunity to learn more about plastic pollution and the impact of community science.

The Power of Community Advocacy

From insightful panel discussions to hands-on activities, the HOW Conference was a demonstration of the power of community advocacy. It showed how real change happens when communities, legal experts, and government officials come together with a shared vision. This conference may be over, but the fight for water justice is far from finished as we work to ensure equitable access to clean water across the Great Lakes.

The post Healing Our Waters Conference Recap: Community Voices Leading the Charge for Water Justice appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.

https://greatlakes.org/2024/10/healing-our-water-conference-recap-community-voices-leading-the-charge-for-water-justice/

Water Infrastructure: Getting Great Lakes Water to the People

On: January 22, 2024

In: Drinking Water, Drinking water affordability, Lead service lines

For our Diving Deep for Solutions series, we commissioned author and journalist Kari Lydersen to examine big issues facing the lakes today and how our expert team at the Alliance for the Great Lakes is growing to meet the moment.

Residents of our Great Lakes states are surrounded by freshwater, yet for many, access to clean, safe, and affordable water is impacted by historic disinvestment or lack of local resources to improve infrastructure, notes Jenna Voss, Alliance for the Great Lakes Program Manager for Clean Water & Equity.

Indeed, many people across the Great Lakes region can’t depend on this spectacular water resource because failing or antiquated pipes and pumps contaminate water on their way to taps and flood basements and discharge sewage into rivers and lakes during heavy rains. These challenges will only get worse with climate change, as heavier rains overwhelm water systems and hotter temperatures increase the risk of toxins and pathogens contaminating drinking water.

Lead that contaminates drinking water from pipes poses a serious health risk in many communities, and drinking water can also be contaminated with “emerging contaminants” – toxic chemicals that are not widely regulated or monitored. These include chemicals from pharmaceuticals and pesticides that contaminate water through run-off or wastewater, and PFAS – thousands of “forever chemicals” from industrial processes and products.

Even as drinking water may be unsafe, it is also unaffordable for many, forcing them to choose between paying water bills and other costs.

The Alliance is proud to collaborate with coalition partners to lead the push for vastly increased investment and equity in water infrastructure and affordability. The $50 billion in federal dollars available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 offers hope for real change, but ongoing policy reform and community engagement is needed to make sure water infrastructure investments are made in effective and equitable ways, including addressing high water bills.

“Protecting and enhancing the Great Lakes ecosystem – including human health and access to safe, affordable water – should be a priority. Public health is central to creating a vibrant and thriving Great Lakes community,” said Voss. “Long-term water affordability needs to be prioritized in state and federal policy and requires dedicated investment, much like our investments in supporting watershed health.”

New investment, new opportunities

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes important revisions to and added funding for State Revolving Funds (SRFs) for clean water and drinking water. These programs offer low-interest loans and grants. The law allocates new supplementary funding of $11.7 billion each over five years to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, plus $5 billion for addressing emerging contaminants and $15 billion for lead service line replacement. The new funding comes on top of existing annual base funding appropriated by Congress.

The federal SRF programs are designed to support projects that help communities meet the requirements and goals of the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, respectively. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) has long been a way to address combined sewer overflows when rainwater overwhelms wastewater systems and forces the release of untreated sewage into rivers and lakes. The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) addresses the risk from lead pipes and other water distribution challenges.

Voss noted that just last year, the EPA, for the first time, examined lead service lines in its Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment.

“The inclusion of lead service lines in the survey was really important,” said Voss. “Hopefully, having more data to tell us where SRF funding is most needed will enhance states’ abilities to make a dent in the crisis.”

Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, almost half the payments for lead service line replacement in disadvantaged communities must be forgivable loans – essentially grants – and almost half the total drinking water funds must be spent on disadvantaged communities.

The law also says a quarter of loans allocated to fight emerging contaminants like PFAS through drinking water infrastructure will be forgivable. Finally, the law reduced the

amount states had to pay to match the federal loans through 2023 – from 20% to 10% — taking some burden off states in the initial years of BIL funding.

Loans and grants for clean water infrastructure are available to municipalities, non-profits, and private entities, like homeowners’ associations and watershed groups. Almost half of the loans are also forgivable if municipalities meet affordability criteria or advance energy efficiency and sustainability targets.

Voss noted that while the dollars are primarily federal, states have broad authority in deciding how they are spent. Each state is required to submit an Intended Use Plan (IUP) to the federal government outlining how the state plans to spend the federal funds for water and infrastructure during that fiscal year, and the public has the chance to comment on these plans. Ultimately, these plans have a massive influence on clean water outcomes in the Great Lakes.

To equip NGOs and community organizations with the tools and understanding to navigate these layers of water infrastructure policy and to help guide states through this process with a focus on equity and climate resilience, the Alliance launched the SRF State Advocates Forum in 2021, in partnership with the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, PolicyLink, and River Network. The forum has helped more than 50 organizations engage with state SRF administrators and submit comment letters on state Intended Use Plans.

“The SRF program could be quite powerful in addressing lead service lines and water affordability problems because it has longevity,” said Voss. “Multi-year funding is needed to make sure there is long-term investment in communities, not just upfront capital where the community is later left with the bill.”

Building Healthy Communities with Systemic Change

Detroit has been a poster city for the water infrastructure crisis, with environmental justice implications, as Black residents are disproportionately affected by lack of access to quality drinking water and by basement flooding, even while faced with unaffordable water bills and denial of flooding compensation claims.

As in neighboring Flint and other cities around the country, many metro Detroit residents deal with drinking water that can be dangerously contaminated with lead and other toxins, even as it is unaffordable for some families.

Monica Lewis-Patrick, President and CEO of the community organization We the People of Detroit, emphasized that the city of Detroit not only needs to overhaul its water infrastructure but needs to do it in a way that prioritizes existing residents without contributing to inequality and displacement.

“In my mind there’s two things,” she said. “One is making sure the infrastructure is being invested in so it’s going to be to the benefit of the residents who are in the city now,” not only aimed at attracting new and wealthier residents.

Second, the jobs and economic stimulus created by the overhaul need to benefit residents who have suffered for too long from inadequate investment. In support of building long-term climate resilience, Mayor Duggan’s administration released the Detroit Climate Strategy in November 2023.

Healthy Water, Healthy People

The particular emphasis on clean water during the pandemic spotlighted the epidemic of water shutoffs in Detroit and other low-income communities across the Great Lakes. In Detroit, shut-offs were linked to higher rates of COVID-19 and disproportionately affected elderly and Black people.

Lewis-Patrick decried the “racialized narrative” that “Black people just woke up one day and didn’t pay their bills,” citing water rates that have more than doubled in recent decades, far outpacing wage growth, with inadequate supports for those living on fixed incomes.

Lewis-Patrick pointed to a study by Dr. Nadia Gaber featuring Detroit and showing the psychosocial impacts of not having secure access to clean water.

“Even outside of the highly concentrated Black and brown communities of the urban core, poor white folks are affected too,” she said. “Every human being deserves clean, affordable water.”

In the work of protecting and restoring the Great Lakes, it’s critical that no one is left behind. For many in the region, water flowing from the tap and running through our water systems is the primary way people connect to the Great Lakes.

“A healthy Great Lakes region is one where every person can wake up knowing our shared water will be there for them and their family,” said Joel Brammeier, Alliance president & CEO. “Water connects us all. That’s why we’re working to make sure everyone who lives here can rely on the lakes every day.”

The post Water Infrastructure: Getting Great Lakes Water to the People appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.

https://greatlakes.org/2024/01/water-infrastructure-getting-great-lakes-water-to-the-people/

In: Climate change in the Great Lakes, Drinking Water, Drinking water affordability, Environmental Justice, Lead service lines, Plastic pollution in the Great Lakes

Reflections from COP28: A Journey of Global Impact and Local Stewardship

On: December 15, 2023

Note: This blog was written by Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement Crystal M.C. Davis.

Attending the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai was an incredible experience, one that I was fortunate to be a part of thanks to the Black Environmental Leaders Association (BEL). As a founding member and board member, it was amazing to see how the organization’s support brought our mission to a global stage, showing just how far our collective efforts in environmental advocacy can reach.

Celebrating the Role of Black Environmental Leaders

Our delegation’s presence at COP28 was a testament to the organization’s commitment to environmental advocacy and its impact on a global scale. I was privileged to represent not only the Alliance for the Great Lakes but also the voices and perspectives that BEL leaders bring to the forefront of environmental justice.

Global and Local Interplay: Understanding Our Collective Impact

At COP28, the interconnectedness of local and global environmental efforts became increasingly clear. The insights I gained there have deepened my understanding of how our regional work across states and cities aligns with national and global environmental initiatives. It’s evident now more than ever that our individual efforts have profound global implications. This revelation was a recurring theme throughout the conference, emphasizing the significant impact of water stewardship and innovation on a global scale. COP28 was not just about global dialogues; it was about finding local relevance in these discussions. The insights gained from the conference will be instrumental in shaping our approach to water and climate issues in the Great Lakes region. The shared knowledge and strategies from the global stage will help us develop more effective local solutions.

Water Stewardship: An Economic Imperative

The conference illuminated an essential truth: water stewardship and innovation are not only environmental responsibilities but also make sound economic sense. This alignment of environmental, racial, health, and economic justice was a key focus, with several sessions exploring the financial aspects of climate action. The discussions at COP28 reinforced the notion that environmental conservation is intrinsically linked to broader economic strategies.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes: Bridging Justice and Environmental Action

At the Alliance for the Great Lakes, we’ve recognized the intertwined nature of environmental, racial, health, and economic justice. COP28 served to reaffirm this understanding, highlighting how environmental initiatives, especially those focused on water, are crucial in building a just and sustainable economic future. Our commitment to these principles was echoed in the global discourse at the conference, reinforcing the value and urgency of our work.

Forward with Renewed Vision

Reflecting on the experiences and lessons from COP28, I am filled with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity. As we move forward, the Alliance for the Great Lakes is more equipped than ever to play a pivotal role in fostering environmental justice and economic sustainability, both regionally and globally.

Together, we are making strides toward a future where environmental stewardship and economic progress go hand in hand.

The post Reflections from COP28: A Journey of Global Impact and Local Stewardship appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.

https://greatlakes.org/2023/12/reflections-from-cop28-a-journey-of-global-impact-and-local-stewardship/