In Douglas, Michigan, houses dot the coast of Lake Michigan, with wooden stairs — some newly built, others with broken steps — descending the steep hillside to give shoreline residents access to the narrow sandy beach. When winds grow fierce, waves crash against the boulders and large sandbags stacked along the base of these homes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/you-cant-stop-the-lake/
By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Elk Rapids is surrounded by water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/elk-rapids-wants-to-help-its-shoreline-through-new-state-climate-corps-program/
William Hart, director of a documentary about the Flint water crisis called “Lead and Copper,” joined Great Lakes Now’s Anna Sysling for a discussion about the film.
The small team began producing the film in 2016, and with the 10-year anniversary of the beginning of the crisis coming up in April 2024, Hart said they wanted to get it out and ready to screen around that time.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/12/great-lakes-now-sits-down-with-director-of-flint-water-crisis-film-lead-and-copper/
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/2023/09/chicago-suburbs-water-tap-lake-michigan/
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Along busy M-72 in Traverse City, rows of huge solar panels gleam in the sun.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/08/solar-grazingr-farmers-solar-companies-land-challenges/
By Maia McDonald and Katrina Pham, Borderless
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, Borderless, Ensia, Planet Detroit, Sahan Journal, and Wisconsin Watch, as well as the Guardian and Inside Climate News. The project was supported by the Joyce Foundation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/08/community-led-approach-stopping-flooding-expands/
by Jonah Chester, Wisconsin Watch
This piece is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, Borderless, Ensia, Planet Detroit, Sahan Journal, and Wisconsin Watch, as well as the Guardian and Inside Climate News. The project was supported by the Joyce Foundation.
Janet Haas two decades ago saw potential in a field of thistle, grass and bushes that Milwaukee County had neglected: Valley Park, nestled between the Menomonee River to the west and homes in one of Milwaukee’s most racially diverse neighborhoods to the east.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/08/milwaukee-residents-fear-flooding-due-planned-i-94-expansion/
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/2023/07/workers-needed-to-fulfill-americas-infrastructure-goals/
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
Jury convicts all four defendants in ComEd bribery trial — and fires a warning shot at Michael Madigan — Chicago-Sun Times
A jury finds all four defendants guilty of bribery conspiracy in a case involving former ComEd executives accused of arranging jobs, contracts and money for allies of former democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/energy-news-roundup-hydrogen-fuel-plant-michigan-un-recommends-shutting-down-line-5/
By Kelly House and Lauren Gibbons, Bridge Michigan
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/2023/05/flush-with-cash-michigan-lawmakers-try-again-to-pass-state-septic-code/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/mapping-the-great-lakes-flood-risk/
Climate change continues to have an impact on some residents in Southeast Michigan. For the average homeowner, when it rains, one may grab a good book, kick their feet up and relax under the gloomy skies. For Detroit resident Semone Alexander, every time it rains, it’s anything but relaxing.
As heavy rains have become more frequent in the last half-decade, so has the flooding of Alexander and other residents’ homes— so much so that many of the homes have fallen into disrepair.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/climate-change-could-spell-catastrophe-for-detroits-older-homes/
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/2023/04/great-lakes-take-global-stage/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Vladislava Sukhanovskaya, Great Lakes Echo
The city of Detroit and a nonprofit agency recently added 1,125 gallons of water per person per month to a program that prevents water shut-offs in low-income households.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/detroiters-can-get-another-1125-gallons-of-water-under-discount-program/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2023/03/flint-5-months-finish-lead-pipe-replacement/
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/2023/02/right-to-water-2023-michigan-ends-shutoffs/
This is the second story in a series of reports from the Great Lakes News Collaborative that will investigate contemporary water pollution challenges in the Great Lakes region. Called Refresh, the series will explore the shortcomings in the Clean Water Act and how Michigan and other Great Lakes states can more completely address water pollution in the next 50 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/smart-sewers-systems-wastewater-officials-energy-funds/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
This is the first story in a series of reports from the Great Lakes News Collaborative that will investigate contemporary water pollution challenges in the Great Lakes region. Called Refresh, the series will explore the shortcomings in the Clean Water Act and how Michigan and other Great Lakes states can more completely address water pollution in the next 50 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/01/road-salt-damaging-michigan-waters/
If you want to peg the date when humans began the trek to modernity facilitated by a relationship to water, start 10,000 years ago, says Giulio Boccaletti, author of Water: A Biography. That’s when nomads became settlers, began farming and their existence started to depend on rivers and streams.
The book continues through the millennia to modern times when America constructed the Hoover Dam and created the Tennessee Valley Authority which Boccaletti says “became a model for the world.”
Boccaletti is a scientist and an honorary research associate at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at University of Oxford.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/01/book-chronicles-human-water-connection-from-nomadic-to-modern-times/
Climate change is already affecting the Great Lakes. One group is urging the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces to coordinate their efforts to make the Great Lakes basin more resilient to those changes.
Climate change contributed to the rapid rise in Great Lakes water levels a few years ago.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/01/group-great-lakes-basin-effects-climate-change/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2023/01/michigan-democrats-aiming-erase-business-friendly-environmental-laws/
By Michael Phillis, Associated Press
President Joe Biden signed a large defense bill on Friday that includes a water bill that directs the Army Corps of Engineers on major infrastructure projects to improve navigation and protect against storms worsened by climate change.
The biggest project by far this year is a $34 billion Texas coastal barrier featuring massive floodgates and other structures to protect the Houston region with its concentration of oil refineries and chemical plants, at risk during major hurricanes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/ap-bidens-signature-advances-major-projects-water-bill/
Since 2020 when Democrats swept into power by winning the presidency and taking control of both chambers of Congress, Great Lakes programs have had a tailwind of funding support from Washington.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided a $1 billion windfall for the region to accelerate clean up of the multiple toxic sites known as Areas of Concern that remain from the peak industrial period in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/smooth-sailing-or-choppy-waters-for-great-lakes-programs/
For more than a century, a dam divided the upstream Sandusky River from Lake Erie. People got power, but fish were prevented from reaching native spawning grounds.
Then, four years ago, the dam came down, like hundreds around the Great Lakes region. It had been replaced as a power source years earlier, and environmentalists argued to restore the river’s natural course.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/ballville-dam-removal-history-trends-impacts/
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:
This fall, the towns and rural farmsteads along the Mississippi River received alarming news about their drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/drinking-water-news-roundup-report-michigan-water-affordability-strategy-191-million-target-minnesota-water-projects/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/11/uncertainty-michigan-rivers-residents-consumers-reconsiders-13-dams/
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 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will make more than $70.6 million in water infrastructure loans to local governments and sanitary districts for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2023.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/drinking-water-news-roundup-illinois-drinking-water-projects-students-ohio-water-quality-research/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/mapping-the-great-lakes-where-do-you-live/
By Andrian Lee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Melissa Scanlan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
When storms like Hurricane Ian strike, many people have to cope afterward with losing water service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/money-drinking-water-sewer-upgrades-communities-need-most/
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:
Indiana:
Prior to the approximately $12 million project that connected Plumville and Crooked Creek water treatment plants, most residents in the area as well as the school district relied on well water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/drinking-water-news-roundup-new-water-infrastructure-funding-projects-programs/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/10/septic-pollution-michigan-lawmakers-reform/
By Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, University of Michigan, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
Powerful storms across the South, following flash floods in Dallas, Death Valley, St. Louis, Yellowstone and Appalachia, have left cities across the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/americas-summer-of-floods/
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
Solar, storage projects set to bring jobs, tax revenue to Illinois coal communities — Energy News Network
Six retired coal plants in downstate Illinois will soon receive solar panels and become renewable energy storage sites.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/energy-news-roundup/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
In Milwaukee, officials are working to eliminate combined sewage overflows that can pour pollution into local waterways including Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/the-catch-pollution-problems/
Poor housing conditions can have an effect on people’s health both mentally and physically by posing a threat to the family or individual living there, especially for young children and babies.
The health and wellbeing of residents are impacted especially in areas where there’s both industry and older housing.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/home-hazards-what-can-you-do/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
Bipartisan legislation to help cities get money to fix their water systems has been signed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
A lot of Michigan’s drinking water systems are in bad shape.
“We have been very behind in maintaining and upgrading our infrastructure across the state,” Charlotte Jameson with the Michigan Environmental Council.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/new-laws-community-access-water-infrastructure/
Great Lakes Now episodes often explore the human element of the Great Lakes along with the critters residing in the waters.
In “Homes, Invaders,” learn about how sea lampreys are an invasive and dangerous species and the efforts that are being done to control the sea lamprey population in the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/homes-invaders-episode-quiz/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/mapping-great-lakes-cities/
Climate change-fueled weather such as extreme storms will provide a direct threat to contaminated waste storage sites, nuclear power plants and industrial facilities at multiple sites on the shores of Lake Michigan, according to a new report.
The 63-mile corridor from Gary, Indiana, through Illinois to the Wisconsin border is particularly at risk.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/extreme-weather-hazardous-waste-sites/
June 14, 2022
Fresh is a biweekly newsletter from Circle of Blue that unpacks the biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today. Sign up for Fresh: A Great Lakes Policy Briefing, straight to your inbox, every other Tuesday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/fresh-research-highlights-gaps-in-federal-air-pollution-data/
By Diana Kruzman, Grist
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.
Joe Mosyjowski has watched a decade-long boom in oil and gas drilling unfold in the region surrounding his 50-acre farm in northeast Ohio.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/ohio-residents-radioactive-oil-gas-waste-roads/
By Michael Phillis and John Flesher, Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — After a record-setting Midwestern rainstorm that damaged thousands of homes and businesses, Stefanie Johnson’s farmhouse in Blandinsville, Illinois, didn’t have safe drinking water for nearly two months.
Flood water poured into her well, turning the water a muddy brown and forcing Johnson, her husband and their two young children to use store-bought supplies.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/ap-climate-driven-flooding-contamination-risks/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Citizens Energy Group announced it would begin a multi-year program to replace thousands of lead service lines owned by its customers.
The company said it received an order from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission granting it permission to launch a five-year, $22.7 million effort to replace customer-owned lead service lines at about 2,500 homes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/citizens-energy-lead-service-line-program/
This month of The Catch features stories from our partners in the Great Lakes News Collaborative. The collaborative’s investigation of the cost of water in the Great Lakes region was the focus of the latest episode.
In Chicago, journalist Laura Gersony is rolling out a new biweekly offering from Circle of Blue called Fresh: A Great Lakes Policy Briefing.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/the-catch-policy-news-great-lakes-region/
This month of The Catch features stories from our partners in the Great Lakes News Collaborative. The collaborative’s investigation of the cost of water in the Great Lakes region was the focus of the latest episode.
Toronto-based journalist Andrew Reeves discusses a piece he wrote for Great Lakes Now about the history and current issues in Canadian water infrastructure.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/the-catch-canadian-water-infrastructure/
This month of The Catch features stories from our partners in the Great Lakes News Collaborative. The collaborative’s investigation of the cost of water in the Great Lakes region was the focus of the latest episode.
Michigan Radio‘s Lester Graham discusses a story he’s been following in northern Michigan on Elk Lake, where plant life and E.Coli are showing up in previously crystal-clear water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/the-catch-septic-systems/
By Janet McConnaughey, Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — About $33 million of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan recently signed into law by President Joe Biden will go toward cleanning up 277 of an estimated 15,000 abandoned oil and gas wells on federal land, the nation’s interior secretary said Wednesday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ap-infrastructure-plan-clean-up-wells/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Final results of the first phase of statewide community water system testing confirmed the presence of PFAS chemicals in the treated drinking water of nearly a dozen Indiana communities.
The presence of PFAS chemicals in drinking water could be exposing thousands of Hoosiers to a series of adverse health conditions ranging from increased risk of kidney and testicular cancers to high cholesterol levels.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/testing-confirms-forever-chemicals-water-systems/
Great Lakes Now episodes are packed with important information on current topics.
In “Water’s True Cost,” learn about the aging infrastructure problem in Michigan and how many households struggle to pay their water bills. And in “The Catch” we look at the same problem in Ontario, the problem of Michigan’s lacking sewer regulations, and a new series on Great Lakes policy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/waters-true-cost-the-great-lakes-now-episode-quiz/
After a big announcement in January celebrating $479 million directed to fully fund the construction of a new lock, the Army Corps of Engineers has had to walk it back, according to a report by The Detroit News.
The billion-dollar project, authorized by Congress at $922 million in 2018, is now estimated to be “somewhere between two times and three times” the cost, Sen.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/soo-locks-project-no-longer-fully-funded/
