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/
While growing up in California, Erica Gies became aware of the state’s water scarcity, which she told Great Lakes Now has led to a “low-key obsession about water for just about everyone in the state.”
California’s droughts have been a regular occurrence that put a spotlight on the importance of water for Gies, fostering a writing career on the topic that has spanned 15 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/water-always-wins-book/
Invasive zebra and quagga mussels are firmly established in the Great Lakes, and efforts to control them have proved mostly fruitless. But environmental managers still want to know where they are, how many there are and what they are up to, so they can predict how the ecosystem will be affected and protect vital infrastructure.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ai-technology-invaders-great-lakes/
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/2022/05/mapping-the-great-lakes-power-up/
By J. Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/waters-true-cost/
By Tara Lohan, The Revelator
This story originally appeared in The Revelator and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
This month regulators greenlighted a transmission line that would bring power generated from Canadian hydroelectric dams to New York City.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/stock-methane-emissions-reservoirs/
ST. PAUL (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday activated the National Guard to help control record flooding in areas of northeastern Minnesota.
Emergency management officials in St. Louis and Koochiching counties requested the assistance to deal with high water caused by heavy spring rains and rapid snowmelt throughout the Rainy River Basin.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ap-national-guard-minnesota-flooding/
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 $3 million to replace over 8,600 feet or 1.6 miles of water main throughout the Sterling Water System.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/drinking-water-news-roundup-illinois-water-system-coal-ash-indiana/
This is part two in a two-part series looking at the cost of water in Ontario. Read part one here, and find the Great Lakes News Collaborative’s series on cost of water in Michigan here.
Just how big an underinvestment Ontario is facing when it comes to the state of its drinking and wastewater infrastructure is difficult to tabulate.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ontario-uneven-investment-water-infrastructure/
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.
— Laura Gersony, Fresh Editor
This Week’s Watersheds
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/fresh-epa-minnesota-mining-permit/
This is part one in a two-part series looking at the cost of water in Ontario. Find the Great Lakes News Collaborative’s series on cost of water in Michigan here.
Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin have perhaps become spoiled at the seemingly endless availability of water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/canada-aging-infrastructure-rising-costs/
By Mike Wilkinson and 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/2022/05/decisive-action-2020-dam-disaster/
Lynn Broaddus has little patience for cities who focus on the reasons why they can’t replace lead service lines.
She understands that finances are a big part of the problem but says too often cities focus on the barriers, instead of what’s possible.
Broaddus is the recent past-president and now a trustee with the international group Water Environment Federation, a non-profit focused on increasing the awareness of the impact and value of water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/water-executive-creative-replacing-lead-service-lines/
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/2022/05/michigan-state-parks-covid/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigans-infrastructure-windfall/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigan-water-systems-overbuilt-underfunded/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Federal funding mechanisms for improving Indiana’s water infrastructure work but need more flexibility to help eliminate lead service lines, PFAS and other issues, according to testimony from one of the state’s top finance officials.
Jim McGoff, Indiana Finance Authority chief operating officer and director of environmental programs, testified March 29 before the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/indiana-finance-authority-house-drinking-water-hearing/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/short-changing-michigan-local-governments-deteriorating-water-systems/
By David A. Lieb, Michael Casey and Michelle Minkoff, Associated Press
Constructed four generations ago, the massive rock and clay dam at El Capitan Reservoir is capable of storing over 36 billion gallons of water, enough to supply every resident in San Diego for most of a year.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ap-analysis-growing-number-of-dams/
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/2022/05/midland-dam-failures-report/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigans-septic-system-problems-lakes/
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
In 2014, the legacy problem of lead pipes throughout the nation came to a head in Flint, Michigan, when the city emergency manager’s decision to switch the water source and not treat it to prevent corrosion led to lead leaching from the pipes into the city’s drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigans-water-systems-city-populations/
By Kelly House
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/water-woes-michigan-suburbs-disinvestment/
By Lester Graham
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/rural-towns-drinking-water-systems/
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State regulation of streams that flow temporarily after rainfall will be restricted under legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Construction companies, the mining industry and other business groups say removing so-called ephemeral streams from regulation would make Ohio’s practice consistent with federal law.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ohio-law-state-regulation-streams/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
There are many similarities between Toronto’s lower Don River and metropolitan Detroit’s Rouge River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/great-lakes-moment-don-rouge-rivers/
This story is part of “Water’s True Cost,” a series by the Great Lakes News Collaborative focused on the rising cost of water in Michigan and the various causes leading to the state of water systems today. Find the rest of the stories in the series here.
PONTIAC, Mich.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/bill-michigans-water-infrastructure/
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/2022/04/pfas-news-roundup-face-masks-fast-food-chains-sued/
As the nation prepares to pour billions of federal dollars into rescuing water systems, the Great Lakes News Collaborative investigates the true cost of water in Michigan with a special series of reports and events during May. Reporters from Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, and Michigan Radio have combined their resources for the most extensive coverage on the cost of water in Michigan to date.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-news-collaborative-waters-true-cost/
By Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal
This story first ran on The Narwhal, a non-profit news organization that publishes in-depth stories about Canada’s natural world.
When the Doug Ford government first announced plans to expand Ontario’s Greenbelt, it called the move a “once in a generation opportunity.”
The initial concept, presented by Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark in February 2021, involved ambitious plans to include waterways under the Greenbelt’s protection and stretch its boundaries to encompass a large swath of land west of Toronto.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/doug-fords-expansion-ontario-greenbelt/
Throughout the Great Lakes region and across the United States, water systems are aging.
In some communities, this means water bills that residents can’t afford or water that’s unsafe to drink. It’s also leading to increased pollution in some of Michigan’s most pristine lakes. From shrinking older cities and small towns to the comparatively thriving suburbs, the true cost of water has been deferred for decades.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/waters-true-cost-events/
By Beth Edwards, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Some northern Indiana residents remain skeptical that communities in the area will be free of contamination from toxic coal ash, despite a renewed commitment by government agencies and one of the state’s biggest energy companies to clean up polluted sites and transition to renewable energy sources.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/indiana-residents-coal-ash-cleanup/
Michigan has reached a 19.3% recycling rate, an increase of 35.4% from prior to 2019, according to an analysis the state of Michigan released Monday ahead of Earth Day on Friday.
Before 2019, the state estimated Michigan’s recycling rate, the rate at which recyclable materials are recycled from waste, was 14.25%.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-michigan-increases-recycling/
By Jonathan Oosting and 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/2022/04/michigan-infrastructure-problems/
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.
Benton Harbor’s water problems aren’t new.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-benton-harbor-lead-pipes/
By Mitchell Beer, The Energy Mix
This story originally appeared in The Energy Mix and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
The fossil and transportation sectors get a relatively free ride and electricity producers do the most to decarbonize in the much-anticipated 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan released March 29 by Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/climate-funding-ottawa-2030-plan/
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal officials slated millions of dollars for rural water projects in several states, with the Biden administration looking to shore up infrastructure needs made more urgent by long-term drought conditions that have been exacerbated by climate change.
The U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-420m-water-supplies-climate-change/
By Frank Jossi, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
A lack of state funding to help Minnesota homeowners clean up mold, asbestos and other hazards is limiting the reach of federal weatherization programs in the state, preventing some of those most in need from accessing benefits.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/minnesota-bill-funding-pre-weatherization-work/
