CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago bus driver looking for a way to relieve stress during the coronavirus pandemic jumped into Lake Michigan for a 365th straight day on Saturday.
Dan O’Conor said he started jumping into the lake at Montrose Harbor on the city’s North Side last year to relieve stress.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-chicago-man-jumps-into-lake-michigan-for-365th-straight-day/
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago bus driver looking for a way to relieve stress during the coronavirus pandemic jumped into Lake Michigan for a 365th straight day on Saturday.
Dan O’Conor said he started jumping into the lake at Montrose Harbor on the city’s North Side last year to relieve stress.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-chicago-man-jumps-into-lake-michigan-for-365th-straight-day/
A decades-long monitoring project in the Great Lakes basin has started checking for PFAS in rain. It’s finding the forever chemicals across the basin in large amounts.
Those numbers aren’t published yet, but PFAS are showing up in concentrations higher than legacy contaminants like mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and pesticides.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/raining-pfas-outpacing-legacy-contaminants/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
State lawmakers will return to Springfield next week to take up two controversial issues that stalled in the final hours of the spring session: a statewide energy package and an elected Chicago school board.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/energy-illinois-senate-energy-plan-enbridge-protests-minnesota-solar-ohio/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/drinking-water-bottled-lead-infrastructure-bill-streams/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/pfas-news-professor-stories-study-high-levels-fertilizer/
CHICAGO (AP) — Beaches in Chicago were washed out by high waves Friday on the first day the city was to reopen Lake Michigan to swimming since summer 2019.
Waves reached up to 11 feet (3.35 meters) high, closing many of the beaches that had been set to open for the first time since Sept.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-high-waves-chicago-beaches-lake-michigan/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
An ambitious clean energy bill appears poised to pass in Illinois before the end of the legislative session this month, with stakeholders feverishly negotiating to find common ground and hash out crucial details.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/energy-news-solar-illinois-michigan-gas-bitcoin-mining-council/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
An ambitious clean energy bill appears poised to pass in Illinois before the end of the legislative session this month, with stakeholders feverishly negotiating to find common ground and hash out crucial details.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/energy-news-solar-illinois-michigan-gas-bitcoin-mining-council/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
Illinois American Water is investing over $2.7 million to upgrade the Pontiac area water system.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/drinking-water-michigan-hackers-pennsylvania-water-systems-illinois-ohio/
As moratoria expire across the Great Lakes region, advocates say ongoing affordability and debt relief are key.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/water-shutoffs-debt-infrastructure/
CHICAGO (AP) — In the modest bungalows and two-flats of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, there’s never a shortage of needed home repairs staring residents in the face. And then there is the less obvious but more ominous problem lurking in their pipes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/the-problem-within-biden-targets-lead-pipes-pushes-equity/
While President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, officially the American Jobs Plan, emanates from the White House, a veteran Chicago policy executive says we should consider its genesis as broader than top down.
“It is something that cities and regions have requested – full partnership with the federal government – for quite some time,” said MarySue Barrett, president of the non-profit Metropolitan Planning Council.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/infrastructure-biden-administration-policy-qna/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
More than 8 of every 10 Illinoisans live in a community where brain-damaging lead was found in the tap water of at least one home during the past six years, a new Chicago Tribune analysis found.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/drinking-water-news-new-york-microplastics-pennsylvania/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
More than 8 of every 10 Illinoisans live in a community where brain-damaging lead was found in the tap water of at least one home during the past six years, a new Chicago Tribune analysis found.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/drinking-water-news-new-york-microplastics-pennsylvania/
Chicago’s Joel Brammeier came of age advocating for the Great Lakes in an era when federal programs that are widely accepted today like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative were barely on the drawing board.
Brammeier started his advocacy work in 2001 when he managed habitat programs for the Lake Michigan Federation, which later became the Alliance for the Great Lakes as its mission expanded.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/great-lakes-environmental-justice-priority/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
A boil water advisory announced Thursday for the town of Eaton has been lifted after the issue was repaired and testing showed the water was safe, the town announced Saturday night.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/drinking-water-great-lakes-lead-schools-minnesota-water-exhibit-wisconsin/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
More Illinois Residents Are Turning to Lake Michigan for Their Drinking Water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/drinking-water-climate-change-withdrawals-michigan-quebec-first-nations/
Salt-speckled sidewalks, driveways and highways are synonymous with winter in the Great Lakes region. But while road salt is highly effective at deicing surfaces, the safety that salt provides for humans places a heavy burden on freshwater ecosystems.
“We have an unhealthy addiction to road salt,” said Claire Oswald, a hydrologist and associate professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/road-salt-reducing-usage-great-lakes-freshwater-ecosystem/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
A series of water main breaks in Joliet this week prompted a boil water order in case of cross contamination during repairs.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/drinking-water-waukesha-lake-michigan-groundwater-contamination-ontario/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/pfas-michigan-indigenous-wisconsin-fish-dnr-legislation/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
The city council in Joliet, Illinois has chosen Chicago to be its next water source, despite efforts by Hammond officials to persuade them otherwise.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/chicago-lake-michigan-minnesota-road-salt/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michigan, Illinois and a federal agency have agreed on funding the next phase of an initiative to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes by strengthening defenses on a Chicago-area waterway, officials said Thursday.
The two states and the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-deal-reached-brandon-road-project-asian-carp/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
The aquifer that supplies Chicago suburb Joliet’s drinking water is expected to dry up by 2030.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/water-withdrawal-contaminated-farmers-water-quality/
Want to give your loved ones a holiday gift that connects to that summer trip up north or the fall color tour you took together?
Or maybe you have a trip planned for after the COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed and want to give them something to remind them they have something to look forward to.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/great-lakes-gift-guide-2020-list/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
Research has long shown that pollution often disproportionately affects low income — especially Black and brown — communities.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/drinking-water-wisconsin-contaminants-lead-pipes/
How do you protect water quality, public health and the environment when much of society comes to a near full stop with no notice?
That was the dilemma for regulatory agencies in March when the realities of the COVID-19 virus caused businesses and schools to close, factories to cease or drastically modify operations, travel to be restricted and office workers to scramble to set up makeshift workspaces in their homes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/covid-19-compliance-agencies-environmental-protection/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
Residents of Sycamore, Illinois, have filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Sycamore, alleging that it knowingly failed to maintain its water supply and ignored problems with its corrosion control treatment.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/drinking-water-news-lead-illinois-michigan-first-nations/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Michigan environmental justice advocates claim state can’t wait to 2050 for clean energy, Minnesota nuclear power plant to construct pilot facility to produce hydrogen energy, and Ohio nuclear energy company faces dangerous court motion from environmental groups.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/great-lakes-energy-illinois-minnesota-natural-gas/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
In March, the Illinois Commerce Commission announced an emergency moratorium on utility shut-offs to protect customers during the COVID-19 health crisis, but most major Illinois providers resumed service disconnections by late summer.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/drinking-water-illinois-covid-19-coronavirus-ontario/
By Lynne Peeples, Ensia, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Before her 73-year-old mom contracted Legionnaires’ disease at a nursing home earlier this year, Monique Barlow knew little about the deadly pneumonia and the waterborne pathogen that causes it.
“Until then, I didn’t give it much thought,” says Barlow.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/legionella-dangerous-pathogens-drinking-water/
Since their introduction years ago, invasive Asian carp have infested rivers and lakes around the United States.
But they’ve been kept out of the Great Lakes — so far.
Some steps have been taken to protect the lakes system, but many believe that more effective policies — and more substantial barriers — are needed to keep the fish from spreading and to reduce the numbers where they’re already established.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/carp-impacts-invasive-fish-midwest/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/utility-data-customer-water-debt-problems/
In June 2017, when President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords, three states had an immediate reaction and plan.
New York, California and Washington announced formation of the United States Climate Alliance calling it a “coalition that will convene U.S. states committed to upholding the Paris Climate Agreement and taking aggressive action on climate change.”
With that action, New York led Great Lakes states in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, establish clean energy plans and fund initiatives to meet carbon reduction goals.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/great-lakes-states-climate-change-carbon/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Power company plans to shutter coal plants in Illinois and Ohio; upgrading of East Lansing water treatment plan will save on energy costs; and Wisconsin receives poor grades for both energy and water infrastructure.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/great-lakes-energy-illinois-coal-michigan-upgrade-wisconsin-infrastructure/
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Drownings in Lake Michigan have reached record levels with at least 53 people dead so far this year, according to a water safety advocacy group.
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a nonprofit that tracks Great Lakes drownings, said that compares with 48 drownings in 2019 and 42 in 2018.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/ap-lake-michigan-drownings-new-high-2020/
The Flint water crisis that made national and international headlines was a failure on many levels, according to University of Chicago Professor Sabina Shaikh.
Particularly, it was a public policy failure, Shaikh told Great Lakes Now in an interview, and the failure in Flint put a spotlight on environmental injustices.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/policy-expert-advocating-elected-officials-safe-drinking-water/
By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos
This story originally appeared in Eos and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
As Chicago’s industries and population boomed in the late 1800s, city officials decided to reverse the course of the Chicago River so that it flowed away from Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/chicago-wetlands-shrank-40-20th-century/
By Lynne Peeples, Ensia, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
This story is the first in a nine-month investigation of drinking water contamination across the U.S. The series is supported by funding from the Park Foundation and Water Foundation.
Once a week, Florencia Ramos makes a special trip to the R–N Market in Lindsay, California.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/drinking-unsafe-water-contaminants-solutions/
The teenagers and scientists searching for the 2017 meteorite in Lake Michigan found more than they had been looking for, representatives from the team reported yesterday.
In a live update on the Adler Planetarium’s YouTube channel, students and researchers shared two major finds from The Aquarius Project’s years-long attempt to find the meteorite: a sample that could be from that meteorite and a sample from a meteorite much, much older.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/aquarius-project-findings-update-meteorite-fragments-lake-michigan/
Three years after a meteorite crashed into Lake Michigan, the Adler Planetarium is giving a live virtual update on the search to find it.
Join at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT on Thursday, Sept. 10. Watch here:
In February 2017, a meteorite lit up the night sky before crashing into Lake Michigan off the Wisconsin shoreline.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/planetarium-update-lake-michigan-meteorite/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in the Midwest is refuting the findings of an internal investigation that found that a lack of record-keeping controls and standard operating procedures could be preventing it from fulfilling federal record-keeping responsibilities.
The EPA’s Office of Inspector General found that Region 5, which oversees EPA activities in Indiana and five other states, could not verify whether employees were using the agency’s official record-keeping system, preserving records for litigation holds and agency use, or knew how to report and investigate a suspected loss of records.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/epa-region-5-internal-watchdog-report-record-keeping/
The latest episode of Great Lakes Now takes a trip to Chicago to learn all about the Eastland tragedy – one that isn’t well known, despite its big impact.
On July 24, 1915, a steamship capsized in the Chicago River, and 844 people drowned.
A documentary about the tragedy, “Eastland: The Shipwreck That Shook America,” is airing on PBS stations around the country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/eastland-documentary-filmmakers-behind-the-scenes/
Historic photos, newly discovered film reels, archival accounts from survivors and stories from their descendants are all part of the new documentary “Eastland: The Shipwreck That Shook America.”
The steamship capsized on the Chicago River as hundreds of passengers boarded. Their destination: a day trip to Michigan City, Indiana, just across the southern end of Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/chicago-eastland-disaster-great-lakes-tragedy-storymap/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: A new bill in Illinois could lead to closed coal plants being repurposed for solar power producing and storage; Minnesota agriculture startup exploring new ways to produce water and energy efficient fertilizer; Ohio lawmakers struggle over repeal of nuclear bailout bill as corruption scandal unfolds; and Wisconsin power utility Alliant Energy strikes deal to freeze electricity and natural gas rates for one year.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-energy-minnesota-ohio-bailout-wisconsin-utility/
By Kari Lydersen, Energy News Network, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Illinoisans voiced their fears about coal ash silently contaminating their drinking water, or coal ash impoundments failing and deluging rivers with toxic sludge, during public hearings this week.
It was the latest step in a years-long debate in Illinois, which has the nation’s second-highest number of contaminated coal ash sites, according to a 2011 study.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/illinois-coal-ash-rules-state-proposal/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Controversial open-pit sulfide mine in UP faces major delays due to COVID-19, utility companies in Ohio and Illinois set to resume disconnections after pandemic-induced moratorium lapses, and Enbridge completes replacement work on Line 5 under St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-energy-back-forty-mine-illinois-ohio-utility-shutoff/
Mass water shutoffs in Detroit following the city’s bankruptcy proceedings brought the issue of water affordability and water shutoffs into public notoriety in the U.S. in 2014.
The threat of COVID-19 brought the issue back to the forefront as the CDC urged people to wash their hands frequently.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/water-debt-environmental-justice/
Lake County, Illinois
CCO Meeting – CCO Meeting Presentation [.pdf]
Thursday, August 13, 2020
The CCO meeting was held online.
Open House Meeting:
Tuesday, September 22 from 4-7pm CST
Wednesday, September 23 from 10am-1pm CST
See Open House Flyer for meeting details. [.pdf]
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
https://www.greatlakescoast.org/2020/08/04/lake-michigan-community-consultation-officers-meeting-and-open-house-for-lake-county-illinois/
CHICAGO (AP) — The variety of fish swimming in Chicago’s rivers have increased in recent decades, which authorities attribute to a decline in pollution, according to a sampling study released Monday by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
The report claims there are nearly 60 different types of fish swimming in the Chicago and Calumet rivers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-fish-types-chicago-waters-increases/
