“The Erie Situation,” a new documentary about toxic algae blooms will air simultaneously on six PBS stations in four states at 9 p.m. ET on Monday Sept. 12. To see if your station is one of them, click HERE.
Finding news about harmful algal blooms is easy – a Google News search provides headlines of the latest outbreaks.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/mapping-the-habs/
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/2022/09/pfas-news-roundup-indiana-research-universities-study-pfas-epa-designates-forever-chemicals-as-hazardous/
“Something was clearly wrong with Lake Erie.”
That’s how filmmaker David J. Ruck remembers being inspired to begin working on “The Erie Situation,” a feature-length film that’s been shown at film festivals this year and now will air simultaneously on PBS stations in four states at 9 p.m.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/meet-filmmaker-david-j-ruck/
By John Flesher, AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Isle Royale National Park’s gray wolf population has reached 28, a dramatic comeback after the species nearly disappeared from the Lake Superior island chain, researchers said.
Health problems from inbreeding caused a die-off that left only two wolves a few years ago, leading park officials to authorize an airlift of mainland replacements.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/ap-isle-royale-wolf-population-surges/
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.
A class of chemical compounds that are no longer produced in significant quantities nor being used in the manufacture of new products, called polychlorinated naphthalenes, or PCNs, has been found in herring gull eggs in the St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/great-lakes-moment-herring-gull-eggs-detroit-river/
The amount of coal ash in the United States is hard to fathom. There are over 700 impoundments holding more than 2 billion cubic yards of ash — enough to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania one-half inch deep.
Coal ash includes heavy metals like chromium, arsenic and selenium — linked to higher rates of cancer and other diseases — that can leach into groundwater.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/reuse-divert-coal-ash-from-landfills-challenges-remain/
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/2022/08/michigans-up-north-forests-could-be-doomed/
Just upstream of Alabama’s Mobile Bay sits a vast region of wetlands known as the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the United States. As well as 21 million cubic yards of wet coal ash.
The J.M. Barry Power Plant has been a flashpoint between environmental advocates and the state utility, Alabama Power, for years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/climate-change-puts-coal-ash-impoundments-at-risk/
At almost 300 sites on the Great Lakes and coast to coast, unregulated buried and landfilled coal ash is putting water supplies at risk, alleges a federal lawsuit filed August 25.
This threat is in addition to contamination from up to 700 coal ash repositories that are covered by 2015 federal coal ash rules.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/unregulated-coal-ash-poses-brewing-threat-to-lake-michigan/
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/2022/08/pfas-news-roundup-eliminating-forever-chemicals-reporting-obligations/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Cameryn Cass, Great Lakes Echo
The Great Lakes Basin draws millions of anglers each year to fish in its lakes, rivers and streams.
In addition, millions more of the region’s residents consume those fish.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/great-lakes-residents-advisories-eating-fish/
After 100 years of coordinated effort, 98% of all the sea lamprey in the Great Lakes have been eliminated, according to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the organization tasked with the management of the invasive species within the basin.
Unfortunately, the remaining 2% is enough to start the cycle all over again if left unchecked, and current technology “does not make complete eradication possible,” said Marc Gaden, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission communication director and legislative liaison.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/modern-sea-lamprey-control-pits-technology-against-the-invaders/
By Christopher Parker, National Newspaper Association Foundation News Fellows Program
Great Lakes Now is publishing this story in conjunction with the National Newspaper Association Foundation’s News Fellows Program. In March, during NNA’s Community Newspaper Leadership Summit, a group of student journalists met with experts and policy leaders in Washington D.C.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/laws-tech-hydroelectricity-energy-indiana/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
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/2022/07/2022-forecast-harmful-algal-blooms-forecast-lake-erie/
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.
Native freshwater mussels have experienced dramatic population declines in the Great Lakes due to habitat degradation, water pollution and the introduction of invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/great-lakes-moment-mussels-detroit-river/
COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (AP) — State Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologists have collected fish and water samples at a northeastern Indiana lake as the result of a fish kill involving thousands of crappies, the agency said June 23.
The fish kill began last week at Loon Lake in Whitley and Noble counties.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/ap-crappie-kill-loon-lake/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Kurt Williams, Great Lakes Echo
Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of stories about profound ecological changes that test our ability to manage the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/history-future-human-impact-great-lakes-ecology/
New research into Great Lakes water levels looks farther into the future to predict how much climate change will increase lake levels in four of the five Great Lakes.
The predictions for the levels between now and 2050 show average increases from 2010-2019 levels of Lake Superior rising 19 centimeters (7.5 inches), Lake Erie 28 centimeters (11 inches) and lakes Michigan and Huron by 44 centimeters (17.3 inches).
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/great-lakes-water-levels-increase-next-few-decades/
A new study completed by international researchers says current efforts to reduce harmful algae blooms by limiting phosphorous in Lake Erie could result in more toxic algae.
“I think it has implications for how we think about cleaning up Lake Erie,” said Greg Dick, director of the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research at Michigan State University, and one of the study’s authors.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/phosphorous-reduction-toxic-algae/
Just a couple years ago, nobody had heard of 6PPD-quinone, a chemical by-product of car tires. Until it was discovered that it can kill fish, including species in the Great Lakes.
Researchers with the University of Washington discovered in late 2020 that 6PPD-quinone was washing off roadways and into Seattle’s urban creeks during rainstorms – a death sentence for coho salmon.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/tire-chemicals-great-lakes-fish/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
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/2022/06/endangered-piping-plovers-need-human-help/
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 Eleanore Catolico, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
This article is co-published by the Energy News Network and Planet Detroit with support from the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative at the Damon J.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/agencies-environmental-data-residents/
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/
One by one, netted fish arrived onto the boat: smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, common carp, gizzard shad, longnose gar.
They lay on their sides, briefly stunned by the electricity that was coursing from rods on the boat’s bow and then scooped on board the 21-foot vessel on a cloudy spring day on Lake Erie.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/african-scientists-great-lakes-international-exchange/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Caroline Miller, Great Lakes Echo
High water and ice scouring has shifted native wetlands inland and opened a door to invasive species along Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coast.
A new study documents the first sighting of the invasive species, European frogbit, in Wisconsin and says that it could threaten native plants, fish and invertebrates.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/rising-water-lake-michigan-wetlands-invaders/
Despite overwhelming public opposition based on public comments received by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the agency approved a water withdrawal and consumptive use permit for Massachusetts-based Aquabounty on March 14.
The permit will allow operators to pull about 28 million gallons from the Michindoh Aquifer to fill tanks at its state-of-the-art Atlantic salmon rearing facility in Pioneer, Ohio.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/salmon-farm-ohio-dnr/
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/
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/
By Shawn McCarthy, Corporate Knights
This story originally appeared in Corporate Knights and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Canada must make up for lost ground if it’s going to meet its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45% from 2005 levels by 2030.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/canada-ranks-last-climate-progress/
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/
Wheeze. Sniffle. Sneeze.
If you already suffer from seasonal allergies, get ready for more severe symptoms as the Great Lakes region experiences climate change in the coming decades.
Atmospheric scientist Allison Steiner of the University of Michigan and some colleagues recently published a new study about the impacts of climate change on pollen season in the Midwest and beyond.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/the-catch-climate-change-allergies/
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 Kathiann M. Kowalski, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
Major weather events accounted for more than a third of the time Ohio customers of regulated electric utilities went without power last year, according to an Energy News Network review of data filed with state regulators.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/storms-ohio-electric-grid-climate-change/
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/
On the cool morning of April 25, doctoral student Eric Ste Marie from the University of Windsor’s department of integrative biology went out for a walk with his partner along the Detroit River prior to an anticipated long day in his lab. Much to his surprise, he saw an animal pop its head out of the water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/river-otters-detroit-river/
The issue of invasive species has haunted the Great Lakes region for decades, but a recent study shows that regulatory intervention can actually help stem the problem.
The study, released by McGill University and the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, looked at the bi-national regulation of ballast water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/regulation-invasive-species-great-lakes/
The Great Lakes region may be best known for its freshwater resources, but another resource it has in abundance is its maple syrup. Canada is the world’s leading producer of maple syrup, generating 75% of the global supply. Within Canada, the province of Quebec is the top producer (96.4%) of maple syrup products followed by Ontario.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/mapping-the-great-lakes-sugar-maples/
“Listen to your elders” is something we often hear, and what could be more of an elder than a 2,500-year-old fungus that’s alive and well in the Great Lakes region.
In 1992, scientist and forest pathologist Johann Bruhn discovered a very large mycelium – the root-like structure forming a fungal colony – in Crystal Falls, Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/life-lessons-big-mushroom/
By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
With climate change, plastic pollution and a potential sixth mass extinction, humanity has made some incredible messes in the world.
But when people, political factions and nations have pulled together, they have also cleaned up some of those human-caused environmental problems, including healing the ozone hole, clearing perpetually smoggy air and saving many species from the brink of extinction.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-healing-ozone-hole-smog-eagles/
By John Flesher, Associated Press
LUDINGTON, Mich. (AP) — Sprawled like a gigantic swimming pool atop a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan is an asphalt-and-clay pond holding enough water to produce electricity for 1.6 million households.
It’s part of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, which uses simple technology: Water is piped from a lower reservoir — the lake, in this case — to an upper one, then released downhill through supersized turbines.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-worlds-largest-batteries/
An area like the Great Lakes that has rain and higher temperatures in the summer, followed by a cold, snowy winter, is best suited for maple production.
But the Great Lakes maple season is evolving as climate change increasingly impacts maple syrup production with shorter harvest seasons, less sugar production and unreliable sap flow.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-sugaring-season/
Some dives are so pivotal that they permanently fuse themselves into my memory bank.
I’ll never forget my first open water dive in the St. Clair River under my family’s dock, or the first time I looked for a drowning victim as a member of the St. Clair County Sherriff Department Dive Rescue and Recovery team.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/round-goby-great-lakes/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Researchers have found that a common wetland plant native to Australia can remove toxic “forever chemicals” from the surrounding environment.
In a 190-day greenhouse experiment, a team of Chinese and Australian researchers found that Juncus sarophorus, a wetland plant also known as the broom rush, could tolerate and accumulate PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS, three of the most commonly studied PFAS chemicals.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/researchers-wetland-plant-pfas-chemicals/
![The Catch: Interlochen Public Radio podcast finds ‘[Un]Natural Selection’ in nature](https://www.greatlakesnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Unnatural-Selection-Logo-240x135.jpg){kind=logo}
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.
Turns out what used to be natural selection is becoming a bit unnatural.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-unnatural-selection/
By Tracy Samilton, Michigan Radio
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/research-pfas-wastewater-treatment-plants/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Yue Jiang, Great Lakes Echo
Global warming will produce more frequent high rainfall events in the Upper Great Lakes, according to a University of Guelph expert.
Rather than average water levels falling as previously assumed, it’s possible that the average will increase because of more precipitation, which will constrict the beach area, said emeritus professor Robin Davidson-Arnott of the Department of Geography, Environment & Geomatics.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/global-warming-impact-great-lakes-beaches/
PFAS research is still in the early stages, which means issues with PFAS crop up all the time to surprise researchers like Michigan State University professor Cheryl Murphy.
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are known as Forever Chemicals because of their reluctance to break down in humans. They can be in the food chain, drinking water and are found in common items in everyday commercial use like water-repellent clothing, dental floss and non-stick cookware.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pfas-solution-widespread-sources/
