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Internal government emails show staff at the Canada Water Agency trying to make sense of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget cuts in response to questions from the media.

The Canada Water Agency launched in October 2024 to help protect Canada’s fresh water, including leading restoration work to clean up the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg and other important sources of drinking water. Canada is home to 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water, which is being threatened by climate-driven floods, droughts and algal blooms, as well as industrial contamination and other groundwater stressors.

Carney’s first federal budget proposed $3.8 million in lower spending by 2029-30 at the agency, and a further $1.2 million categorized as a separate “ongoing,” or permanent spending reduction, for a total of $5 million in cuts. They were part of Carney’s $60 billion in proposed cuts — split into $48 billion in spending reductions through 2029-30, and a further $12 billion in “ongoing” cuts with no given end date.

The Narwhal reported on the budget in November, summarizing the government’s proposal as cutting $5 million in total spending at the agency over a number of years. After that story was published, the agency emailed The Narwhal with a request for a “small correction,” asking that figure be changed to $3.8 million.

When The Narwhal asked the agency why it shouldn’t include the $1.2 million in ongoing spending cuts in the figure — which would make it $5 million — internal emails released under Access to Information law show staff reached out to Finance Canada, sharing a screenshot of the budget’s spending review page for the agency with the proposed “ongoing” cut circled in red. 

“Hello Finance Department colleagues, we are fact-checking an article in The Narwhal that mentions the [agency]’s budget cuts, and just want to make sure we are understanding the budget chart correctly,” the agency wrote. 

The water agency asked the Finance Department whether the $5-million figure, which it had already asked The Narwhal for a correction on, was in fact, correct.

After the Finance Department said it would look into the matter, the water agency asked for guidance on how to explain the permanent portion of the spending reductions to journalists.

“Do you have messaging you can share around communicating the ‘ongoing’ to the media?” the staff member asked.

The next day, an official at Finance Canada said the story did not need a correction after all.

Canada Water Agency to cut 13 jobs, but continue restoration and protection of fresh water

Last month, a Canada Water Agency planning document showed how it expected to absorb the first three fiscal years’ worth of cuts, amounting to $2.6 million by 2028-29. One result was the loss of roughly 13 jobs, or what’s known as full-time equivalent positions, from a workforce of 223.

It said it was also planning on “modernizing government operations” and “leveraging new technology” as well as making administrative and support functions more efficient.

At the same time, the agency plans to keep conducting water quality and ecosystem restoration, including in the Great Lakes, it said.

The federal budget says cuts are necessary to “rein in government spending” from pandemic highs. Carney has gone on to trumpet other multibillion-dollar investments in areas like the military, technology and infrastructure that could in turn pose new environmental challenges for water.

Last week, the Canada Water Agency took on a new task when the Carney government promised $3.8 billion to “protect nature” as part of a new environmental strategy. The agency will be working on the country’s first National Water Security Strategy meant to reflect Indigenous knowledge systems including water stewardship.

The Narwhal emailed the Canada Water Agency asking how its spending cuts will affect freshwater stewardship and restoration work.

A spokesperson said the government’s budget cuts would not impact the agency’s “planned activities, staffing and funding commitments for restoration and protection” of its eight freshwater ecosystem initiatives through Canada’s Freshwater Action Plan, a “signature” federal program.

The program includes the Great Lakes, lakes like Simcoe and Winnipeg and rivers like the St. Lawrence in Ontario and Quebec, and the Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s 2023 federal budget allocated $650 million over 10 years to these freshwater initiatives.

Federal funding for freshwater protection has been important in Ontario in recent years, because the province has not invested as much in ecosystem restoration, according to an environmental scientist at the University of Windsor. Photo: Christopher Katsarov Luna / The Narwhal

“Like all federal organizations, the Canada Water Agency is contributing to the government’s plan to reduce spending, eliminate duplicative programs and focus resources on core priorities,” the spokesperson wrote.

“The agency remains fully committed to delivering on its mandate to improve freshwater management in Canada by providing leadership, effective collaboration federally and improved coordination and collaboration with provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples to proactively address national and regional transboundary freshwater challenges and opportunities.”

The agency also told The Narwhal the reduction in jobs would be staggered, with four next fiscal year, followed by another four the year after and five more after that.

Asked how the agency was planning for the budget’s proposed $1.2 million in permanent cuts, the spokesperson reiterated the budget review was meant to ensure government spending was sustainable and funding cost-effective programs and activities.

Federal funds support water conservation in Ontario and the Great Lakes

The spending reductions come at a time when the Ontario government is amalgamating its watershed protection agencies, called conservation authorities, from 36 to nine, as well as moving to give itself the power to dictate more rules around drinking water. 

Federal funding has been important for conservation authorities because Ontario has not been investing as much in community science and ecosystem restoration, Catherine Febria, the Canada Research Chair in freshwater restoration ecology, said. 

An associate professor at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Febria said that the federal “scale of investment is something that the province was never able to do.”

“That was really exciting, it was like a leapfrog in progress with this single initiative, and a number of large-scale projects were invested in [over] the first two years,” she said, naming the freshwater ecosystem initiatives in places like the Great Lakes as one example.

The federal government and Ontario have been working together “for over 50 years” through a series of agreements on protecting and conserving the Great Lakes, the spokesperson for the Canada Water Agency said. 

As one example, the Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health lays out how the two will coordinate protection efforts.

“This partnership has led to remarkable improvements, including dramatic reductions in harmful pollutants, and the return of pollution-sensitive species such as bald eagles,” the spokesperson wrote.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks did not respond to questions from The Narwhal about how much provincial funding was going towards efforts to restore freshwater ecosystems, and to what extent the ministry was working with the federal water agency.

Febria said given the federal water agency is still relatively new, it’s still not clear what its full mandate will be, not to mention if or how the proposed cuts will impact its work or what exactly may be lost.

She said another Carney initiative, directing $1.7 billion toward a series of scientific initiatives, including research awards attracting high-level talent from abroad, holds promise. Some of the research awards will focus on water security, environment and climate resilience. 

Still, it’s a “tricky balance,” she added, between investing in research and also carrying out on-the-ground work to improve local areas.

“I think we need both,” she said. “When the pendulum swings towards a whole bunch of researchers, that’s great, but at the end of the day, we still need people and organizations and communities on the ground.”

The post Canada Water Agency wasn’t quite sure how to explain Carney’s budget cuts to the public, documents show appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/15/canada-water-agency-wasnt-quite-sure-how-to-explain-carneys-budget-cuts-to-the-public-documents-show/

The Narwhal

On:
In: Featured, Ontario, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

Internal government emails show staff at the Canada Water Agency trying to make sense of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget cuts in response to questions from the media.

The Canada Water Agency launched in October 2024 to help protect Canada’s fresh water, including leading restoration work to clean up the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg and other important sources of drinking water. Canada is home to 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water, which is being threatened by climate-driven floods, droughts and algal blooms, as well as industrial contamination and other groundwater stressors.

Carney’s first federal budget proposed $3.8 million in lower spending by 2029-30 at the agency, and a further $1.2 million categorized as a separate “ongoing,” or permanent spending reduction, for a total of $5 million in cuts. They were part of Carney’s $60 billion in proposed cuts — split into $48 billion in spending reductions through 2029-30, and a further $12 billion in “ongoing” cuts with no given end date.

The Narwhal reported on the budget in November, summarizing the government’s proposal as cutting $5 million in total spending at the agency over a number of years. After that story was published, the agency emailed The Narwhal with a request for a “small correction,” asking that figure be changed to $3.8 million.

When The Narwhal asked the agency why it shouldn’t include the $1.2 million in ongoing spending cuts in the figure — which would make it $5 million — internal emails released under Access to Information law show staff reached out to Finance Canada, sharing a screenshot of the budget’s spending review page for the agency with the proposed “ongoing” cut circled in red. 

“Hello Finance Department colleagues, we are fact-checking an article in The Narwhal that mentions the [agency]’s budget cuts, and just want to make sure we are understanding the budget chart correctly,” the agency wrote. 

The water agency asked the Finance Department whether the $5-million figure, which it had already asked The Narwhal for a correction on, was in fact, correct.

After the Finance Department said it would look into the matter, the water agency asked for guidance on how to explain the permanent portion of the spending reductions to journalists.

“Do you have messaging you can share around communicating the ‘ongoing’ to the media?” the staff member asked.

The next day, an official at Finance Canada said the story did not need a correction after all.

Canada Water Agency to cut 13 jobs, but continue restoration and protection of fresh water

Last month, a Canada Water Agency planning document showed how it expected to absorb the first three fiscal years’ worth of cuts, amounting to $2.6 million by 2028-29. One result was the loss of roughly 13 jobs, or what’s known as full-time equivalent positions, from a workforce of 223.

It said it was also planning on “modernizing government operations” and “leveraging new technology” as well as making administrative and support functions more efficient.

At the same time, the agency plans to keep conducting water quality and ecosystem restoration, including in the Great Lakes, it said.

The federal budget says cuts are necessary to “rein in government spending” from pandemic highs. Carney has gone on to trumpet other multibillion-dollar investments in areas like the military, technology and infrastructure that could in turn pose new environmental challenges for water.

Last week, the Canada Water Agency took on a new task when the Carney government promised $3.8 billion to “protect nature” as part of a new environmental strategy. The agency will be working on the country’s first National Water Security Strategy meant to reflect Indigenous knowledge systems including water stewardship.

The Narwhal emailed the Canada Water Agency asking how its spending cuts will affect freshwater stewardship and restoration work.

A spokesperson said the government’s budget cuts would not impact the agency’s “planned activities, staffing and funding commitments for restoration and protection” of its eight freshwater ecosystem initiatives through Canada’s Freshwater Action Plan, a “signature” federal program.

The program includes the Great Lakes, lakes like Simcoe and Winnipeg and rivers like the St. Lawrence in Ontario and Quebec, and the Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s 2023 federal budget allocated $650 million over 10 years to these freshwater initiatives.

Federal funding for freshwater protection has been important in Ontario in recent years, because the province has not invested as much in ecosystem restoration, according to an environmental scientist at the University of Windsor. Photo: Christopher Katsarov Luna / The Narwhal

“Like all federal organizations, the Canada Water Agency is contributing to the government’s plan to reduce spending, eliminate duplicative programs and focus resources on core priorities,” the spokesperson wrote.

“The agency remains fully committed to delivering on its mandate to improve freshwater management in Canada by providing leadership, effective collaboration federally and improved coordination and collaboration with provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples to proactively address national and regional transboundary freshwater challenges and opportunities.”

The agency also told The Narwhal the reduction in jobs would be staggered, with four next fiscal year, followed by another four the year after and five more after that.

Asked how the agency was planning for the budget’s proposed $1.2 million in permanent cuts, the spokesperson reiterated the budget review was meant to ensure government spending was sustainable and funding cost-effective programs and activities.

Federal funds support water conservation in Ontario and the Great Lakes

The spending reductions come at a time when the Ontario government is amalgamating its watershed protection agencies, called conservation authorities, from 36 to nine, as well as moving to give itself the power to dictate more rules around drinking water. 

Federal funding has been important for conservation authorities because Ontario has not been investing as much in community science and ecosystem restoration, Catherine Febria, the Canada Research Chair in freshwater restoration ecology, said. 

An associate professor at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Febria said that the federal “scale of investment is something that the province was never able to do.”

“That was really exciting, it was like a leapfrog in progress with this single initiative, and a number of large-scale projects were invested in [over] the first two years,” she said, naming the freshwater ecosystem initiatives in places like the Great Lakes as one example.

The federal government and Ontario have been working together “for over 50 years” through a series of agreements on protecting and conserving the Great Lakes, the spokesperson for the Canada Water Agency said. 

As one example, the Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health lays out how the two will coordinate protection efforts.

“This partnership has led to remarkable improvements, including dramatic reductions in harmful pollutants, and the return of pollution-sensitive species such as bald eagles,” the spokesperson wrote.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks did not respond to questions from The Narwhal about how much provincial funding was going towards efforts to restore freshwater ecosystems, and to what extent the ministry was working with the federal water agency.

Febria said given the federal water agency is still relatively new, it’s still not clear what its full mandate will be, not to mention if or how the proposed cuts will impact its work or what exactly may be lost.

She said another Carney initiative, directing $1.7 billion toward a series of scientific initiatives, including research awards attracting high-level talent from abroad, holds promise. Some of the research awards will focus on water security, environment and climate resilience. 

Still, it’s a “tricky balance,” she added, between investing in research and also carrying out on-the-ground work to improve local areas.

“I think we need both,” she said. “When the pendulum swings towards a whole bunch of researchers, that’s great, but at the end of the day, we still need people and organizations and communities on the ground.”

The post Canada Water Agency wasn’t quite sure how to explain Carney’s budget cuts to the public, documents show appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/15/canada-water-agency-wasnt-quite-sure-how-to-explain-carneys-budget-cuts-to-the-public-documents-show/

The Narwhal

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In: Michigan, PFAS, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Sarah Cwiek, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work HERE.

Compounds from the family of chemicals known as PFAS can suppress the body’s ability to mount a defense against new pathogens — and the effects can last well into adulthood.

That’s one conclusion from a new Michigan State University study that looked at how people in two West Michigan communities that had PFAS-contaminated water responded to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Courtney Carignan, an environmental epidemiologist and the lead researcher for the MSU team, had already been conducting PFAS impact studies in Parchment and Cooper Township near Kalamazoo. Both communities were home to paper mills, and in 2018, state testing found that public water supplies had been historically contaminated.

Carignan said it’s well-established that PFAS chemicals are immunotoxic in children, but it’s been harder to study that impact on adults. That’s because adult immune systems have already been exposed to a number of pathogens that trained their immune systems to respond by producing antibodies, the frontline “soldiers” of immune response.

So when the COVID pandemic struck, Carignan and her team took the opportunity to look at the immune responses in adults participating in the existing research. And what they found was striking: a strong link between blood levels of a certain PFAS compound — perfluorohexanesulfonic acid, or PFHxS — and fewer defensive antibodies being produced in response to COVID exposure through vaccination.

“And so we infer then that people who have higher exposures, if they’re producing less antibodies, then their bodies are less able to fight an infection,” Carignan said.

“It reinforces what we know about these contaminants — that they have been phased out of use because they’re known to be harmful, that they are immunotoxic, and that these effects persist into adulthood.”

Carignan added that while some classes of PFAS have been phased out, including PFHxS, thousands more remain in use.

They’re known as “forever chemicals” because of how long they take to break down in the environment and in human bodies. In addition to immunotoxic properties, they’re also known endocrine disruptors and linked to multiple types of cancer.

PFAS are so prevalent in the environment that nearly everyone has some level of them present in their body. However, Carignan said there doesn’t appear to be a link to suppressed immune response correlated with those lower levels.

“Most of us, unfortunately, do have these chemicals in our body,” she said. “[But] at those levels, we don’t really see not producing enough antibodies to be protected.”

The study comes at a time when the U.S. is still debating PFAS standards for drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized its first enforceable drinking water standards for certain PFAS chemicals in 2024, but implementation timelines and enforcement for some compounds have since been pushed back, according to Carignan. Michigan, however, has its own standards.

“I think Michiganders can know that our state is doing more than other states, and we have more protections,” Carignan said. “That’s a good thing.”

The post MSU study: PFAS can affect immune response appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/13/msu-study-pfas-can-affect-immune-response/

Michigan Public

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In: Advocacy, Drinking Water, epa, Equity and Environmental Justice, Latest News, Michigan, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Tracy Samilton, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work HERE.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced new initiatives to tackle microplastics in the human body and drinking water on Thursday.

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic – as small as nano-sized pieces – that are increasingly ubiquitous in water supplies and in the human body.

Zeldin said the environmental agency will add microplastics and pharmaceuticals to its list of concerning chemicals in drinking water. “For the first time in the program’s history, EPA is designating both microplastics and pharmaceuticals as priority contaminant groups,” he said.

Kennedy said the government will create a $144-million program called STOMP (Systematic Targeting of Microplastics).

“We are focusing on three questions, what is in the body, what’s causing harm, and how do we remove it?” Kennedy said. “We still do not have clear answers about causation or solutions,” Kennedy said. “We do not yet understand how these particles interact with the immune system, the endocrine system or the neurological system, and we do not have validated methods to remove them safely.”

But a number of environmental groups said the actions taken by the government aren’t sufficient.

“Microplastics are a serious – and growing – threat to our health and our environment,” Erin Doran of Food & Water Watch said in a statement. “Without monitoring of our drinking water, we can’t know the full scale of this crisis. Today’s announcement …ultimately falls short on its own. It does not reflect the urgent need for a comprehensive nationwide monitoring program for microplastics in drinking water now.”

Samantha Pickering leads the public and environmental public health program at the Michigan Environmental Council. She said the EPA’s acknowledgment of the problem is a good thing, but there’s more that should be done now, like adding microplastics to the government’s official list of contaminants in drinking water that must be monitored.

She said she agrees with the EPA that much more research needs to be done to determine the health effects of microplastics. But she said there’s enough evidence already that microplastics are bad for the environment and for humans.

“I appreciate that the EPA is acknowledging that they’re going to start watching it. but it needs to be shifted into a precautionary approach. I don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to start taking action,” she said.

Pickering said some states, including California and Michigan, are ahead of the U.S. EPA in tackling the problem. “Having the Great Lakes ecosystem, and so much Great Lakes shoreline, we’re a bit more responsible for our stewardship.”

Michigan will be conducting a pilot to test five different drinking water systems for the contaminants, she noted, and it will also, for the next three years, test about 200 of its inland lakes and streams for microplastics.

And Pickering said California has passed a law requiring the adoption of a system for testing drinking water supplies, as well as projects to keep plastics out of the marine environment.

The post U.S. EPA announces action on microplastics, but Michigan critics say it’s not enough appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/07/u-s-epa-announces-action-on-microplastics-but-michigan-critics-say-its-not-enough/

Michigan Public

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In: Buffalo, Equity and Environmental Justice, Featured, New York, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Jennifer Wybieracki, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Julissa Hernandez was at work when she saw the news, in 2024, that a young mother, Chianti Means, had jumped to her death at Niagara Falls State Park, taking her two young children, a 9-year-old and 5-month old baby, with her. When Hernandez called her dad later that day, she realized that Means was a second cousin who used to babysit her.

Hernandez feels like she often hears stories from her friends and people in the community about another person trying to commit suicide or another person dying. Hernandez and Donte West, a high school classmate, recall at least five students who died by suicide during their time at Niagara Falls High School. 

“Even if the signs are there, people just excuse it, because that’s just how the people in the Falls are,” Hernandez said.

Once celebrated as the honeymoon capital of the world, Niagara Falls is now better known for its environmental and mental health challenges, with data showing higher suicide rates a growing body of research suggesting a link between these issues and local conditions.

Niagara County Health Assessment data indicate that the area has elevated air pollution levels and suicide rates higher than the state average, at 14.2 per 100,000 individuals. ZIP codes in Niagara Falls report the highest rates of youth asthma-related emergency room visits. New research correlates air pollution with mental health disorders, such as depression. 

Environmental and genetic factors influence the developing brain. Researchers are still exploring exactly how air pollution impacts young minds, but several studies have found that high levels of particulate matter 2.5 microns, or PM2.5, in the air can affect brain chemistry, leading to increased aggression and a loss of emotional control. Other forms of air pollution have been linked to the development of mental health disorders such as anxiety, psychosis and neurocognitive disorders such as dementia. 

Niagara County no longer has active Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality monitors for PM2.5 or NO2 and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s monitor list shows many Niagara sites closed before 2012. Factories such as Covanta and Goodyear still report emissions to the state and the EPA under their Title V permits, however, the reports do not reflect the air quality experienced by residents in surrounding neighborhoods. The area’s air quality is now estimated using regional models and data from neighboring counties, leaving uncertainty about what residents in Niagara Falls are actually breathing.

A view of Niagara Falls State Park. Credit: Matt Hofmann

A study published in 2025 found 36 links between ambient air pollutants and adverse mental health disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Psychologist John Roberts and a team from the University at Buffalo took this research one step further and examined how air pollution exposure affecting mental health might be correlated with historical redlining in several cities in New York state, including Niagara Falls. 

Redlining was a structural racism practice conducted across the United States beginning in the 1930s that involved denying mortgages to residents of racial or ethnic minorities. Roberts’ study looked at the impact of ambient air pollutant levels on emergency room visits for mental disorders and how those visits varied across neighborhoods affected by redlining. Overall, they found that both PM2.5 and NO2 were elevated and significantly associated with mental health disorder-related emergency room visits in historically segregated New York state neighborhoods. 

“We looked at the overall concentration levels of air pollutants across regions [in the city] and found that there were elevated levels in the redlined neighborhoods,” Roberts said. “So the discriminated neighborhoods had greater pollutants, because there’s more industry or disposal wastes there.”

That means young adults in Niagara Falls are at risk, facing the adverse health effects of intensive, concentrated industry pollution. [StoryGISMap] 

In the early 1900s, engineers were drawn to the region’s potential for harnessing hydropower. This hydroelectricity enabled electrochemical processes that use electric currents to trigger chemical reactions to produce compounds such as chlorine and caustic soda, or to extract aluminum from aluminum oxide. This process made Niagara Falls home to factories that produced defensive chemicals and materials used for building atomic bombs during World War II. Radioactive slag still plagues the city years later. [Source]

It also brought companies such as Hooker Chemical, which became notorious for the Love Canal catastrophe, where leaking industrial waste from a toxic chemical dump, on which a Niagara Falls neighborhood was built, led to a landmark environmental disaster that helped spark the modern environmental movement and prompted the establishment of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980. Today, it appears history is repeating itself, only now, the federal government is removing limits and regulations on toxic emissions. 

Since President Donald Trump’s second term began, his administration has moved quickly to slash EPA funding and weaken emissions standards for major industries. Congress overturned Biden administration rules regulating seven toxic air pollutants, marking the first efforts to curb the Clean Air Act since its inception.

The rollbacks threaten cities like Niagara Falls, where factories still operate near residential neighborhoods.

In 2025, the Niagara Falls City School District lost nearly $734,000 in funding to provide support services for students and families after the Trump administration cut funding for two school-based mental health grants.

That funding cut impacted the Niagara Falls Student Champion Team, a student group Hernandez and West were both a part of before they graduated. Members focus on mental health awareness and trauma-informed learning. The students meet with the office manager from the University at Buffalo’s Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care School of Social Work twice a month to learn about trauma, its causes and how to be sensitive when discussing traumatic experiences. Students also share ideas and develop strategies to support their school’s and community’s mental health efforts. 

The team is still active this school year, but has scaled back its activities due to budget cuts.

With the death of another student at the beginning of the last school year, the district administration arranged for the team to present what they’ve learned to Niagara Falls’ mayor and city council in early 2025. In May, during Mental Health Awareness Month, the team also presented before the Buffalo Bills Foundation, a philanthropic arm of the NFL team that supports organizations that are committed to improving the quality of life in the Western New York region, which donated $10,000 to support trauma-informed care training. 

The school district used to conduct Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, but hasn’t since 2019. The surveys found that high school students in the city of Niagara Falls reported feeling more sad or hopeless in the past year than students statewide. More than 43 percent of students reported serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions due to physical, mental or emotional problems. 

Niagara Falls High School is surrounded by powerplant and factories. Niagara resident Amanda West says she can feel the exhaust chemicals on her skin when she goes outside sometimes. Photo by Matt Hofmann.

In response, the Niagara Falls school district has hired 18 social workers for the district over the last seven years. Before that, there were zero. Each district school also has a family support center which offers students and their families food, clothing and services they need to set students up for success. The district also offers Say Yes Buffalo opportunities which provides students tuition and support to increase the rates of high school and post-secondary completion.

“[The surveys] showed that suicide and suicide ideation is high,” district Superintendent Mark Laurrie said. “I think that comes from a lot of people feeling hopeless. I think that poverty causes a lack of schema, and people can’t see what they can become, or what they can do, because we’re surrounded by poverty.”

Roberts added that aside from poverty, family conflict, abuse, discrimination and other social trauma as a child can create a negative cognitive schema, which changes one’s basic beliefs and values about themself and changes their capacity for feeling in control. He said environmental stressors, such as pollution and violence that are elevated in sacrifice zones, make matters more difficult. 

While the district is developing more resources for students, the high school still sits across the street from some of the city’s largest polluters.

Hernandez and West describe the school as run-down and likened it to a prison. They said they felt stressed at school because when they looked out their classroom windows, all they saw were factories.

“We don’t got much going for us in terms of positivity,” Hernandez said. 

Hernandez was born and raised in Niagara Falls, but she lived with family in North Carolina for eighth and ninth grade, during the COVID-19 pandemic. She noticed her skin cleared up and her asthma symptoms disappeared after she left Niagara Falls. She was able to start running again, which is something she had to give up years ago because she could never catch her breath.

Julissa Hernandez played several sports throughout childhood, her favorite being softball. Credit: Matt Hofmann

Hernandez grew up participating in a wide range of sports, including softball, soccer, lacrosse, track, dance, cheerleading and gymnastics. As she got older, her asthma got worse, forcing her to gradually drop every sport. She believes the poor air quality in Niagara Falls contributed to her asthma complications.

Hernandez is now an early childhood education major at Niagara University. After graduation, she hopes to become a teacher with newly acquired trauma-informed tools to help students and educate parents and guardians. West joined the team after seeing their presentation to the Niagara Falls City Council and was interested in learning and advocating for students who don’t have safe living environments. He had an aunt and a cousin who died by suicide.

“If you’re around nothing but drama and chaos, you’re not gonna be able to focus or feel right,” West said “There is no room for somebody to get their mental state right if they don’t even know how to do it.”

Christen E. Civiletto, born and raised in the city, is now a lawyer, an environmental law adjunct professor at The University at Buffalo and author of the forthcoming book “Thundering Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Niagara Falls,” set for release in June. She has spent more than 20 years researching contamination in Niagara Falls. 

“People are sick in numbers too high to ignore. Niagara Falls’ children are bearing the brunt of harm from past and ongoing pollution—these are generational harms that must be addressed before any hope of restoration in the Falls is possible,” she said.

“If you’re around nothing but drama and chaos, you’re not gonna be able to focus or feel right,” West said “There is no room for somebody to get their mental state right if they don’t even know how to do it.”

Christen E. Civiletto, born and raised in the city, is now a lawyer, an environmental law adjunct professor at The University at Buffalo and author of the forthcoming book “Thundering Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Niagara Falls,” set for release in June. She has spent more than 20 years researching contamination in Niagara Falls. 

“People are sick in numbers too high to ignore. Niagara Falls’ children are bearing the brunt of harm from past and ongoing pollution—these are generational harms that must be addressed before any hope of restoration in the Falls is possible,” she said.

Industry along Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Credit: Matt Hofmann
Industry along Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Credit: Matt Hofmann

Brian Archie, a lifelong Niagara Falls resident, is tackling the city’s health epidemic from two angles. He is a current member of the Niagara Falls City Council and also serves as the executive director of the Creating a Healthier Niagara Falls Collaborative (CAHNF), which focuses on building community by improving the social determinants of health. The collaborative also educates residents about topics  such as air quality and mental health.

The Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo recently awarded the collaborative $10,000 to host a youth workshop on organizing and environmental justice.

The collaborative also partners with the Buffalo Clean Air Coalition, a nonprofit that develops grassroots leaders who organize their communities to lead environmental justice and public health campaigns in western New York.

The coalition hosted three environmental justice meetings in Niagara Falls in between June and October.

Brian Archie speaks at an event in the spring of 2025. Credit: Jennifer Wybieracki

Archie and the Niagara Falls City Council are teaming up with residents to develop programs and policies that aim to improve mental well-being and physical health. Last fall, Niagara Falls became a New York state Climate Smart Community, a state program that provides climate assistance to local governments. 

“If I’m not working to change our city, then I’m complacent,” said Archie.

Despite the legacy of pollution and intergenerational trauma there are still these places where hope is alive and community persists. Just like the Love Canal Homeowners Association back in the 1970s, the community is fighting back. 

“There’s this rule in organizing that if we can get just 3.5 percent of a population united behind a shared goal, we can make societal changes,” said Bridge Rauch, Clean Air Coalition environmental justice coordinator. “Three or four people out of 100 and you can make a lot of things happen.”

With citywide groups such as CAHNF and student-led groups such as the National Champion Team, Rauch feels like the sky’s the limit.

“Ultimately, I believe basic organizing is what will restore deep democracy and build community across movements and demographics, and allow us to tackle the issues of the 21st century,” said Rauch. 

Donte West at his graduation in June 2025. Credit: Matt Hofmann

In June 2025, West sat in a half-filled auditorium for the Coalition’s first ever environmental justice meeting for Niagara Falls residents. He listened to Rauch speak about his city’s history, including the Love Canal catastrophe and asked questions, including why he wasn’t taught about the environmental threats in school. 

“I don’t know why it isn’t brought up, it could literally happen again,” West said. “Trauma is passed down generation after generation, and people don’t know how to stop it.”

Reporting for this project was supported by the Pulitzer Center

The post How Two Teens in Niagara Falls Are Confronting Pollution and a Mental Health Crisis appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/04/01/how-two-teens-in-niagara-falls-are-confronting-pollution-and-a-mental-health-crisis/

Inside Climate News

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In: Buffalo, Equity and Environmental Justice, Featured, Fish, Birds and Animals, New York, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

New York’s Scajaquada Creek was the site of a more subdued, long-term environmental catastrophe compared to its infamous neighbor, the Love Canal. Instead of a chemical company burying thousands of tons of toxic waste over a couple decades, the suburban Buffalo stream was the site of industrial and municipal waste disposal. This went on for nearly a century before several miles of it were literally buried in a massive public works project in the 1920s. Only in recent decades has serious attention been given to transforming Scajaquada back into some version of a healthy stream.  

“We like to say Scajaquada Creek encapsulates everything you could do wrong to a creek,” said Jill Spisiak Jedlicka, executive director at Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper.  “It’s only 13 miles long with a small watershed. It’s really an example of what not to do to a creek.” 

Since before the turn of the century the stream, which forms in Lancaster about 14 miles east of downtown Buffalo, had been mistreated. For decades its main function was to carry away raw sewage in addition to a steady flow of waste from the region’s industries. Scajaquada Creek has remained in such bad shape that in 2014 western New York artist and conservationist Alberto Rey included it in his Biological Regionalism series which includes waters in the greatest of distress.  

“It was buried because it was actually voted on in a public referendum in the 1920s. The creek was so polluted they said ‘The creek must go,’” Spisiak Jedlicka explained. “So they buried it underground, instead of addressing the problem.”  

Subsequently, portions of the creek which were buried became new land that was later developed.  Today there  are roads and parking lots sitting directly atop the creek as it makes its way to the Niagara River near its confluence with Lake Erie, then Lake Ontario. In addition to hiding a portion of the stream a century ago, wetlands that once helped mitigate pollution have been largely eliminated in the name of development. A shopping mall was built in 1989 which destroyed 65%of the watershed’s wetlands. In addition, raw sewage dumped into the creek from municipalities meant the waterway was loaded with human waste and bacteria. According to The Investigative Post, in May 2014 raw sewage combined with stormwater overflow was dumped into Scajaquada on 283 separate discharges.  

Reports from the same year indicate that decaying fecal matter covered the creek bed, as thick as five feet in some places. In addition, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other dangerous chemicals were found in quantities high enough for the New York Department of Health to issue advisories against consumption of any fish from the stream.     

Scajaquada sewage 

Here Scajaquada Creek emerges from several miles in one portion of the creek that was buried in the 1920s. (Photo Credit: James Proffitt)

While there have been murmurs of “daylighting” portions of the creek, the consensus is that’s not likely to happen. But in recent years, ideas and money have made their way into the hands of those working to fix the creek. While heavy industry is no longer the creek’s major polluter, the population at large is.  

During the last several days of 2025, reports estimate that at least 37 million gallons of untreated or partially treated sewage flowed into the Buffalo-area waterways during a rain and snow-melt event.  

Buffalo’s combined sewer overflow (CSO) system, where stormwater inundates city sewer systems during heavy rains, is currently the major polluter of the creek. During heavy precipitation events, stormwater flows into sewer lines beneath the city and when too much water inundates the system, the storm water combines with raw sewage and often flows into Scajaquada. 

According to Rosaleen Nogle, principal sanitary engineer for the Buffalo Sewer Authority, more than 95% of Buffalo’s infrastructure is the CSO system, and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.  

“In an older city like Buffalo, it’s very difficult to separate because there’s so much infrastructure underground already,” she said, citing right-of-ways that include gas, electric and cable lines. “Not only is it much more difficult, it’s much more expensive.” 

Nogle said the installation of innovative systems like “Smart Sewer” stations are helping to alleviate CSO events. Those systems open and close underground gates during heavy rains channeling stormwater into available underground pipes. Utilizing some of the city’s older and larger pipes to store CSO for future treatment prevents stormwater runoff combined with sewage from entering streams and rivers.  

“Basically it’s storing in place using the excess space we have,” she said. “We have about 10 installations today and we’re continuing to advance the use of this technology to manage our system and store where we have the capacity, optimizing the amount of flow coming through our treatment plant.” 

Overflows during storm events have led to litigation. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation filed its most recent lawsuit against BSA for failing to meet terms of a prior long term control plan. That litigation, according to Jedlicka, was a formality needed to reach a new agreement between the state and the Buffalo Sewer Authority in an ongoing effort to improve Scajaquada and other streams in the region.  

Bright spots in a dark history 

Buffalo Niagara Waterkeepers efforts to improve Scajaquada are persistent including public awareness campaigns like this banner at Hoyt Lake in Buffalo. (Photo Credit: James Proffitt)

While there are plenty of downsides to Scajaquada, there are upsides, too. Like the fact that despite pollution, a wide variety of wildlife still call it home. Surveys included in a 2024 Army Corps of Engineers study indicates the presence of turtles, beaver, fox and mink in the stream and its smaller tributaries. Flying residents include songbirds, owls, hawks, ducks, herons and swans, among others. A surprising amount of fish species are also found in the stream.  

Likely the most well-known residents are found at Forest Lawn, a 269-acre cemetery in the heart of the city. It’s the site where the longest hidden portion of the creek emerges from a tunnel. 

“We have a lot of Canada geese here, I’d say that’s our bread-and-butter,” explained, Jennifer Kovach, executive administrative assistant. “Sometimes people mention coyotes, I’m not sure if we have any right now, but every so often we’ll get them. And we’ve had an owl that’s been nesting here so we have baby owls every spring and little mink that run through, and wood chucks. But the best-known is the deer. We hear about them every day.” 

The deer she mentions are a small herd including several leucistic individuals (all white, yet not albino) that reside at Forest Lawn, on the banks of Scajaquada. 

“One time we had a deer out on Delaware Avenue and someone called to let us know our deer left,” she chuckled. “I told them, it’s not our deer and they have free will so they can leave and come back, whatever they want to do.” 

Kovach said because of the large number of trees at Forest Lawn, during spring the cemetery becomes a birding hotspot. 

“We’re on the flight path for migrating warblers so lots of birders will come and literally stake out all day in the spring with their long lens cameras and get some spectacular shots,” she said. 

According to Kovach, improvements to the creek are an ongoing endeavor.  

“We work with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and did a really big restoration project on the creek about seven years ago,” she said. “We’re constantly doing work on the creek. Down near the S-curves we restored the wetlands where it used to be kind of a big pit. Now it’s all native grass species and native trees and it’s really a beautiful area to walk around in.” 

Waterkeeper is engaged in spring shoreline cleanups as well as smaller, focused cleanups in addition to public awareness campaigns.  

“We’ve witnessed local anglers fishing it, in particular certain immigrant communities who rely on it despite the consumption warnings,” Jedlicka said. “They actually catch fish, like bottom-feeding carp and so we try to do some outreach with that. There are some people that paddle the headwaters, but for the most part in the lower creek people don’t come into contact with the water.” 

New projects to help Scajaquada 

Despite pollution a wide variety of birds mammals and fish persist on the creek including the most-polluted stretches. (Photo Credit: James Proffitt)

Water quality improvement projects meant to help the stream were announced by the NYDEC on Jan. 17. The Buffalo Sewer Authority  will receive $10 million to install infrastructure to reduce CSO events on both Scajaquada and nearby Black Rock Canal. An additional $10 million in water quality improvements will take place in the Town of Cheektowaga to renovate a half mile of sewer infrastructure including 1,200 manhole covers to reduce CSO during storms. 

Jedlicka said ongoing partnerships have helped the efforts, including funding from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation and the Ralph Wilson Jr. Foundation. And the continuing cleanup couldn’t be done without Mother Nature, as well.  

“You have to remember the creek water isn’t polluted 100 percent of the time,” she explained. “It’s fed by clean, cold spring water so there’s a lot of natural inputs that help keep the creek alive so that when there’s not an overflow happening, it can sustain fish and wildlife which is why we keep working at this — if we can just eliminate as much discharge as we can and mitigate it, the creek will begin to repair itself. It’s not all doom and gloom.”  

The post Scajaquada Creek, a Cautionary Tale appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/03/18/scajaquada-creek-a-cautionary-tale/

James Proffitt, Great Lakes Now

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In: Featured, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, News, Ontario, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Leah Borts-Kuperman, The Narwhal

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public and The Narwhal 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. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

In February 2025, a small freshwater stream in Newmarket, Ont., was saltier than the ocean. The source? Winter road salt, washing off local parking lots and highways into the Lake Simcoe watershed.

As a result, concentrations of chloride — one of two minerals that make up table salt — in Western Creek exceeded 26,000 milligrams per litre of water. Meanwhile seawater typically sits at 19,400 milligrams of chloride per litre of water, according to the local conservation authority. 

For Christopher Wellen, an environmental scientist focused on hydrology and associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, this finding was not surprising: the Simcoe region, and many others across southern Ontario, have big salt problems. 

“It washes away from the roads, but it doesn’t just disappear,” Wellen said. “It goes where the water goes — that’s our groundwater, it’s our lakes, it’s our rivers — and has effects there.” 

For decades, the concentration of road salt in Lake Simcoe has been on the rise: 120,000 tonnes of it are used by communities in the watershed annually, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority has reported. That amounts to roughly 227 kilograms of salt per person in the region every year.

Heavy salting in winter is not unusual, but Lake Simcoe has been monitored for decades, so it can act as a case study of exactly what happens when this much road salt is being applied. And it illuminates the environmental impact across the province where high-traffic areas, surrounded by cities, towns and a dense network of roadways, are inundated with salt.

Road salt and fresh water

Road salt is primarily made up of sodium chloride and is used to remove ice from roadways in the winter. But oversalting has widespread impacts on ecosystems, harming aquatic life and depleting biodiversity year-round.

“Every organism that lives in streams and rivers and lakes … has tolerances for all sorts of things like temperature fluctuations and salt fluctuations,” Wellen said. “If the water becomes too salty, they can find it really difficult to reproduce and thrive and continue to exist, basically.”

All this chloride does not break down, or simply wash away. It accumulates over time. 

“It’s quite possible that, if things don’t change, the food web could be quite affected,” Wellen added. The problem starts at the bottom of the food chain, he said, and makes its way up.

Since fish are mobile, they can generally avoid areas with high salt concentrations. The pronounced impacts are on the more stationary species, like critters that live in riverbeds. They also make up the base of the food chain, so when they are unable to survive the salty water, organisms higher up lose their food supply.

The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority says on its website that winter salt has become a topic of “great concern” in the watershed, particularly because there isn’t an effective way to remove it. And Lake Simcoe, the largest lake wholly in southern Ontario, supplies drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents — with hundreds of thousands more relying on groundwater aquifers in the watershed.

How salty is Lake Simcoe?

In Canada, the federal government provides long- and short-term guidelines for exposure to chloride before aquatic life is affected. At a concentration of 640 milligrams of chloride per litre of water for as little as 24 hours, aquatic life could be severely affected. For longer-term exposure, concentrations beyond 120 milligrams of chloride​ per litre of water would see harm to aquatic life such as a fish species declining over time.

David Lembcke, director of watershed science and monitoring at Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, jokingly equates the latter threshold to a pack-a-day cigarette habit: “You’re going to have long-term impacts from that. There are some sensitive biota in the lake that will probably have reproductive, developmental, long-term impacts at those levels.” 

The authority produced a report more than a decade ago that already showed chloride concentrations were impacting these aquatic species in 64 per cent of the Lake Simcoe watershed.

In the lake itself, the concentration in February was around 61 milligrams of chloride​ per litre of water, Lembcke said, which is about half of the long-term exposure guideline set by the province. But that level has been steadily increasing by 0.7 milligrams of chloride per litre of water annually, according to the conservation authority. Elsewhere in the watershed, especially in tributaries in urban areas like Hotchkiss Creek and West Holland River, concentrations regularly exceed both guidelines, Lembcke said, and long after winter ends.

“We have this incredibly persistent, relentless increasing trend in lake [salt] concentrations,” Lembcke said. “Certainly the potential is there: if we don’t curb the amount of salt that we’re using, drinking water could be impacted.”

For drinking water, the Ontario objective is 250 milligrams of chloride​ per litre of water, but this is based on taste, not health considerations. For people who need to limit their sodium intake for things like high blood pressure, or kidney or liver diseases, Health Canada recommends that salt in water shouldn’t exceed 20 milligrams per litre.

In Waterloo, Ont., groundwater and consequently drinking water has already been impacted; given high concentrations in some areas, the city has to mix groundwater from different wells to average out chloride levels across the region. They’ve campaigned hard for curbing road salt use, since current water and wastewater treatment doesn’t remove salt, and the municipality explains on their website that removing it requires expensive, energy-intensive treatment. And that would mean higher water costs for the community.

How do you solve a problem like road salt?

While some communities look to solutions such as replacements for road salt, they also carry their own challenges: alternatives like beet juice or sodium acetate can be prohibitively expensive, and their long-term effects on ecosystems aren’t entirely known. 

Some experts and activists are looking to stop the problem at its source. Commercial parking lots are among the biggest culprits for oversalting, likely since they are liable for any injury that occurs on snow or ice on their properties.

“The problem that we keep seeing is that small businesses or big parking lots are oversalting, and it’s a perverse incentive structure where they feel like they have to do it to protect themselves against the slip and fall [lawsuits],” Jonathan Scott, executive director of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, said. Scott is chair of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and a Bradford West Gwillimbury councillor.

“It’s not any safer. It’s worse for the environment. It’s worse for small businesses in terms of increased costs,” he said.

Proponents including Scott and Lembcke are arguing to modernize the law by offering limited liability, or a stronger defence against being sued, to those businesses who get an accepted certification such as Smart About Salt, and learn how to implement best salting practices for public safety and the environment alike. 

“If you’re following best practices and if you’re doing the right thing as a winter maintenance operator, that should be a defence for the operator and the property owner against slip and fall claims,” Scott said. “It seems like such a simple pro-business, pro-environment legal reform that wouldn’t cost us anything.” 

Scott points to New Hampshire, a state with comparable winter conditions to Ontario, as an example. The state reduced its salt pollution by 25 to 45 per cent by granting limited liability protection to certified commercial salt applicators. 

Wellen and his team have done modelling studies to see what would happen if a legal reform like this was adopted in the Lake Simcoe area; he said the results are promising, finding it could decrease the concentrations in the lake significantly by the end of the century.

But the province, who would have to make that regulatory change, has yet to sign on.

“It seems to be one of those problems that’s entirely of our own making, in which case it should be something that we can fix,” Lembcke said. “I’m optimistic that it’s something that we can address.”

— With files from Fatima Syed

The post Winter road salt is threatening Lake Simcoe and Ontario watersheds year-round appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/03/18/winter-road-salt-is-threatening-lake-simcoe-and-ontario-watersheds-year-round/

The Narwhal

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In: Climate change, Featured, History and Culture, indigenous communities, Ontario, Tribal Governments and First Nations, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

Six Nations of the Grand River is one of the most highly populated Indigenous communities in Canada with around 29,000 residents. A primary source of water is from the McKenzie Creek, which is mostly used for agricultural purposes for the Six Nations and non-Indigenous communities throughout the watershed. 

According to a recent study, Ontario’s McKenzie Creek watershed is likely to face increasing levels of water scarcity throughout the rest of the century. This research examines how water scarcity, due to factors like climate change, land use and water consumption, will have impacts for agricultural production for the Six Nations.

“I live on reserve and it’s just something that you don’t really think about on a daily basis until you’re actually living it, where you see your appliances die early because of the hardness of the water,” said Six Nations Senior Manager of the Environment Sara Curley-Smith.

Of the water available for Six Nations, the people here also face ongoing challenges with water quality. This compounds the effects of water insecurity.

“You have the majority of families at Six Nations that are water insecure already, so if they’re water insecure in good times, you can’t imagine what’s coming our way in the next 50 years,” said emeritus professor of Indigenous Studies at McMaster University Dawn Martin-Hill, who was also involved with the study.

Martin-Hill leads the Ohneganos Indigenous Water Research Program, which the study was a part of. She is also part of an initiative to create a Haudenosaunee Environmental Research Institute that centers Indigenous knowledge to better understand these issues. Part of her interview is also featured in the article, “Water is Life, Six Nations lead international approach to long-standing water insecurity.”

“In the design of the project we consulted with the environmental folks at Six Nations, the fish and wildlife folks, leaders, traditional knowledge holders, we just got a sense of what their concerns and priorities were,” Martin-Hill said. “Climate change came up quite a bit because cities and towns have access to that information and modeling, whereas reserves and reservations do not.”

Throughout the project process, Indigenous traditional knowledge holders helped guide the scientists on where and when to conduct the research, Martin-Hill said.

This led to a focus on the McKenzie Creek subwatershed, which was understudied compared to the Grand River watershed, according to Tariq Deen, lead author of the study at McMaster University.

Map of the study area for “Blue and Green Water Scarcity in the McKenzie Creek Watershed of the Great Lakes Basin.” Credit: Dr. Tariq Deen

“That’s why that project was so beneficial in terms of process, because traditional ecological knowledge was the foundation of it,” said Smith.

Traditional ecological knowledge incorporates Western and Indigenous knowledge together in dialogue, Martin-Hill said, to better understand the environment.

The McMaster University study based its projections of water scarcity off of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios 4.5 and 8.5, which signify medium and high greenhouse gas emission and climate warming levels. 

The study by hydrologists and geographers looks at the projected levels for two types of water; blue and green water. While the study anticipates increased levels of water scarcity for both types of water in the future, Six Nations has already experienced these challenges. 

Blue water is fresh water that can be extracted for human activities.

To account for blue water scarcity, the study used two scenarios. The first was a low estimate scenario using monthly agricultural water consumption patterns. The second scenario estimated higher water consumption using the maximum amount of water that could be extracted, assuming this would occur with warming climate trends and an increase in agriculture.

“Under that scenario, we saw that blue water scarcity would increase to a level where it would negatively affect the ecosystem,” said Deen.

Another study on the Grand River watershed from the University of Guelph found similar trends in blue water scarcity considering increasing water demands due to climate change.

“This is a common trend where if you have more withdrawals and more agriculture use, there would be some scarcity that would be coming in,” said author and University of Guelph associate professor in water resources engineering Prasad Daggupati.  

However, water use data for the Six Nations was not included in the water scarcity estimates of the McMaster University study. This is because the Grand River Conservation Authority, who manages the McKenzie Creek watershed, does not collect water use data for the Six Nations. This means the water scarcity levels projected in both blue water scenarios are a low estimate.

“Under climate change scenarios, we saw that green water scarcity would increase throughout the next century,” Deen said.

Similar future patterns for green water scarcity were also found in the University of Guelph study, which used the same Representative Concentration Pathways to account for future impacts of climate change. 

Green water is the type of water that remains in the soil for plant growth.

“Moving into the future, obviously with increased precipitation, there would be more evapotransportation happening up, which would result in having less soil water available, which is green water,” said Daggupati.

Evapotranspiration is the process where water on land and in plants evaporates into the air.  

On top of agriculture and climate factors, corporations like Nestlé and BlueTriton have a history of extracting water without consulting and securing consent from Six Nations.

“We believe there are good veins of water that are much deeper than what wells were dug to, and that’s the water that Nestlé had been taking which we didn’t know about – 3.6 million liters every day for the last decade,” Martin-Hill said. 

The Six Nations pursued legal action and were able to get Nestlé and BlueTriton to stop their water extraction operations under previous laws requiring Indigenous consultation.

“The problem however has been made much worse because of the Bill 5 that the new federal government and Doug Ford passed so that they can bypass any kind of consultation for development, such as water extraction,” Martin-Hill said. 

According to Smith, this is a big issue because 70% of the community relies on groundwater. This issue is further exacerbated by the potential for wells running dry and the inability to support the agriculture that a lot of people at Six Nations rely on.

“I think our people have a problem with the way Western science compartmentalizes and silos things such as water,” Martin-Hill said. “We see ourselves as a part of the natural world.”

The post Climate change is worsening water crisis for Canada’s largest First Nations population appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/03/04/climate-change-is-worsening-water-crisis-for-canadas-largest-first-nations-population/

Mia Litzenberg, Great Lakes Now

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In: Featured, PFAS, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work HERE.

In the years since Michigan’s PFAS crisis became public knowledge, widespread contamination has prompted a growing list of “do not eat” advisories in waterways across the state.

But a study published this month in the Journal of Great Lakes Research offers hope that, one day, the fish could be safe to eat again.

The study was conducted by researchers in the former US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development, which the Trump administration has since dismantled amid a broad push to curtail federal oversight and loosen regulations on a host of chemicals, including PFAS.

Using decades’ worth of archived lake trout and walleye samples originally collected to track older pollutants like mercury and PCBs, scientists discovered PFAS levels in Great Lakes fish have declined significantly since the late 2000s, when manufacturers began phasing out once-common compounds like PFOS and PFOA amid growing regulatory pressure.

“The ecosystem responded very quickly to these changes in industrial production,” said Sarah Balgooyen, a lead author of the study and former EPA chemist who is now a researcher at the Colorado School of Mines.

A growing body of research has linked certain PFAS (an acronym for a class of thousands of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) to cancer, thyroid problems and developmental, fertility and immunity challenges.

The research team tested for 45 compounds, using fish taken from the Great Lakes between 1975 and 2020. They found that average contamination levels by 2020 had reached their lowest since the 1980s.

In Lake Erie, for example, PFAS levels in the freeze-dried tissue samples peaked at close to 450 nanograms per gram in 2005 but were closer to 50 nanograms per gram in 2020. In Lake Michigan, levels reached a high of about 150 nanograms per gram in 2010 before drifting down to about 80 nanograms per gram in 2020.

“We hope to see that trend continue,” Balgooyen said.

That’s welcome news to Chris Matteson, a 76-year-old from Muskegon who has been fishing in the Great Lakes since the days when factories lined the shore, spewing effluent so foul that, “if you could see a foot into the water, that was pretty good.”

“I’ve been through a lot of fish warnings,” Matteson said.

Although PFAS manufacturers have known their products are toxic since at least the 1970s, the public wouldn’t learn until decades later. Unregulated use of the so-called “forever chemicals” allowed them to escape into the environment, poisoning drinking water and embedding in the bodies of humans, fish and wildlife.

Only in recent years — after a series of contamination scandals — have state and federal governments begun regulating PFAS and investigating the extent of the pollution.

In 98 Michigan water bodies, some fish species are so full of PFAS that state health officials say it’s not safe to eat them. Health advisories in hundreds more water bodies call for limiting meals to anywhere from 16 servings a month to six a year.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said agency staff are reviewing the study.

For now, she said, “our advice for anglers remains the same: To learn how to choose safer fish to eat, follow the Eat Safe Fish Guides.”

Find out whether your local fishing spot is affected here.

Gary Ankley, a former EPA research toxicologist and coauthor on the study, said the declining PFAS levels are encouraging. But there is no way to know how low PFAS levels will ultimately fall.

Known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down readily in the environment, some amount of PFAS will remain in the lake indefinitely, Ankley predicted.

Balgooyen cautioned that the study offers only a partial picture of PFAS risks in the lakes.

While manufacturers have largely stopped using the so-called “long-chain” PFAS compounds that tend to bioaccumulate in fish, many have switched to new “short-chain” compounds that do not.

The health risks of those newer compounds have not been well-studied.

“We’re seeing decreases in these compounds that we know are harmful, which is great,” Balgooyen said. “But there’s still this unknown component of the replacement chemicals.”

Citing evidence that PFAS is more toxic than previously thought, state and federal regulators in recent years have lowered allowable PFAS levels in drinking water and taken other steps to discourage the chemicals’ use.

Seeking to make the EPA more business-friendly, the Trump administration has reversed some of those actions, announcing plans to loosen PFAS drinking water standards and requirements for manufacturers to report their PFAS use.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called those “commonsense” changes that would lower costs for industries and water providers while still protecting the public.

But Matteson, the Muskegon fisherman, views the administration’s loosening of environmental regulations differently.

“The companies will go back to the easiest, cheapest way to do anything,” he said. “Most likely, it isn’t environmentally friendly.”

The post PFAS levels are declining in Great Lakes fish, new research shows appeared first on Great Lakes Now.

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Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2026/01/26/pfas-levels-are-declining-in-great-lakes-fish-new-research-shows/

Bridge Michigan

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In: Climate change, climate migration, Feature Homepage, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, Science, Technology, Research, upper peninsula, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts

The ready access to nature and winter sports is what prompted Elizabeth Scott and her family to up sticks from Portland, Oregon, to Houghton on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula in summer 2021.

With 29% of Michigan’s territory and only 3% of its population, to many, the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) might appear a dream place to start over.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

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Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/climate-migrations-impact-on-michigans-upper-peninsula/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

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In: Advocacy, Authors, Budget, Chicago, epa, Feature Homepage, Gary Wilson, Illinois, Latest News, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, trump, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Rethinking Strategy in the Era of the Trump EPA

The administration of President Donald Trump acted quickly and unilaterally when it launched its blitzkrieg to dramatically downsize and alter the mission of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

There were no bureaucratic task forces, collaborations or obligatory outreach sessions to the public for comment before taking action.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/08/rethinking-strategy-in-the-era-of-the-trump-epa/

Gary Wilson, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Algae Blooms, Authors, clean water, harmful algal blooms, Lake Superior, Latest News, News, Staci Lola Drouillard, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
All water is local

“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Ojibwe direct descendant, she lives in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her nonfiction books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and the children’s story “A Family Tree” in 2024.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/all-water-is-local/

Staci Lola Drouillard, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Algae Blooms, algal blooms, Authors, Drinking Water, Feature Homepage, Gary Wilson, lake erie, Latest News, News, Ohio, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Advocacy group challenges “new normal” status of Lake Erie’s algal blooms

It’s the annual peak algal bloom season and the spotlight as usual, is on Lake Erie’s western basin, including Toledo and southeast Michigan.

For the public, that’s because in 2014, Toledo went three days without drinking water as toxic algal blooms forced the city to issue a “do not drink” order.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/advocacy-group-challenges-new-normal-status-of-lake-eries-algal-blooms/

Gary Wilson, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Chicago, Climate change, Drinking Water, Feature-Chicago, Illinois, infrastructure, Latest News, Lead, lead pipes, News, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Chicago was supposed to warn residents about toxic lead pipes last year. Most still have no idea.

By Keerti Gopal & Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco

This story is a partnership between Grist, Inside Climate News, and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region. This coverage is made possible through an ongoing partnership between Grist and WBEZ.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/chicago-was-supposed-to-warn-residents-about-toxic-lead-pipes-last-year-most-still-have-no-idea/

Inside Climate News and Grist

On:
In: Agriculture, animals, Authors, barn sanctuary, conservation, Donté Smith, Feature Homepage, Fish, Birds and Animals, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, News, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Empowering Environmental Stewardship: How Barn Sanctuary Champions Compassion and Conservation in the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes, a vital freshwater expanse for millions, face an ongoing environmental crisis. Beneath the vast waters lies a significant threat: pollution stemming largely from agricultural runoff. This flow of excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen contributes to harmful algal blooms and expanding “dead zones,” jeopardizing ecosystems, water quality and public health across the region.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/empowering-environmental-stewardship-how-barn-sanctuary-champions-compassion-and-conservation-in-the-great-lakes/

Donte Smith

On:
In: forever chemicals, infrastructure, Latest News, News, PFAS, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin
Wisconsin DNR expands private well PFAS testing to five Oneida County townships

By Katie Thoresen, WXPR

This story was originally published by WXPR. WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Listen to their stories here.

People on private wells in five Oneida County Townships in Wisconsin may be offered free PFAS testing.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/wisconsin-dnr-expands-private-well-pfas-testing-five-oneida-county-townships/

WXPR

On:
In: Chicago, Drinking Water, Feature Homepage, Feature Lead, Feature-Chicago, Illinois, infrastructure, Latest News, Lead, lead pipes, News, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Chicago residents risk daily lead exposure from toxic pipes. Replacing them will take decades.

By Keerti Gopal & Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco

This story is a partnership between Grist, Inside Climate News, and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region. This coverage is made possible through an ongoing partnership between Grist and WBEZ.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/chicago-residents-risk-daily-lead-exposure-from-toxic-pipes-replacing-them-will-take-decades/

Inside Climate News and Grist

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In: Algae Blooms, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Cleveland, Collaboration, Feature Cleveland, lake erie, Latest News, microbe, News, Ohio, Research, Research, Data and Technology, science, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Great Lakes scientists discover new lifeform microbe, name it ShipGoo1

By Emilio Perez Ibarguen, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/07/great-lakes-scientists-discover-new-lifeform-microbe-name-it-shipgoo1/

Bridge Michigan

On:
In: Algae Blooms, Climate change, Feature Homepage, harmful algal blooms, lake erie, Latest News, News, Research, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Toxic algae blooms are lasting longer in Lake Erie − why that’s a worry for people and pets

By Gregory J. Dick, University of Michigan

 is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

Federal scientists released their annual forecast for Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms on June 26, 2025, and they expect a mild to moderate season.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/06/toxic-algae-blooms-are-lasting-longer-in-lake-erie-why-thats-a-worry-for-people-and-pets/

The Conversation

On:
In: Books, Authors, Art and Music, Environmental Justice, Equity and Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, History and Culture, indigenous communities, Latest News, Minnesota, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, water walks, Waves of Change
Waves of Change: Meet Ojibwe leader, activist and water walker Sharon Day

Waves of Change is an online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.

Sharon Day is enrolled in the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and makes her home in Minnesota, where she is a founder and the executive director of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force, a vital provider of culturally appropriate health services, programs and housing.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/06/waves-of-change-meet-ojibwe-leader-activist-and-water-walker-sharon-day/

Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, coastal erosion, Collaboration, Latest News, Michigan, News, water levels, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Years after high water crisis, lax policies leave Michigan coast vulnerable

By Emilio Perez Ibarguen, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/06/years-after-high-water-crisis-lax-policies-leave-michigan-coast-vulnerable/

Bridge Michigan

On:
In: documentary, Drinking Water, Fish, Birds and Animals, Latest News, microplastics, News, Ohio, Ripples of Plastic, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
How much plastic is in the Great Lakes?

Microplastics are turning up everywhere, including our water, our food, and even our bodies. And the Great Lakes are no exception.

Ripples of Plastic is a documentary from Ohio filmmakers Chris Langer and Josh Heese that investigates how plastic pollution is making its way into the largest freshwater system in the world.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/06/how-much-plastic-is-in-the-great-lakes/

Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Donté Smith, Drinking Water, Feature Homepage, Latest News, Lisa John Rogers, microplastics, plastic, pollution, Ripples of Plastics, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Everything to know about microplastics in the Great Lakes

Shortly after Chelsea Rochman moved to Toronto to start her current faculty job at University of Toronto, she began working with the Government of Canada to sample microplastics in fish from Lake Ontario. What she found, she said, shocked her. They found microplastics in every single fish they tested. Every single fish.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/everything-to-know-about-microplastics-in-the-great-lakes/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Blue Economy, Feature Homepage, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, infrastructure, Latest News, News, The Blue Economy, water, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Despite U.S. research resistance, Great Lakes aims to be Silicon Valley for water

MILWAUKEE – The confluence of the Milwaukee and Menominee rivers, in the downtown core of Wisconsin’s largest city, is a prime vantage to assess the collection of assets that define the past and future of Great Lakes water use, and the array of technology development encompassing the region’s water.

Together and in complement, universities, research labs, tech incubators, water-focused businesses, and forward-thinking utilities here and in other cities are pushing for something greater than the sum of their parts.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/despite-u-s-research-resistance-great-lakes-aims-to-be-silicon-valley-for-water/

Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

On:
In: Blue Economy, Feature Homepage, Habitat Restoration, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Lake Superior, Latest News, News, Ontario, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, The Blue Economy, Thunder Bay, Tribal Governments and First Nations, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Thunder Bay is bringing its Great Lake shoreline back

My first glimpse of Lake Superior, in all its lore-and-song-inspiring glory, is a blurry one from the backseat of a taxi driving through Thunder Bay. 

Superior, or Gitchigumi, which means Great Lake in Anishinaabemowin, is the largest of those lakes, and the second largest lake in the world, containing 10 per cent of the planet’s fresh surface water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/thunder-bay-is-bringing-its-great-lake-shoreline-back/

Fatima Syed, The Narwhal

On:
In: Authors, Chicago, Detroit, Feature Detroit, Feature Homepage, Feature-Chicago, Gary Wilson, Illinois, infrastructure, land subsidence, Latest News, Michigan, News, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Sinking cities: Great Lakes cities not immune from under-recognized threat

Significant areas of the Earth’s surface across continents are gradually sinking and that process brings environmental, social and economic consequences to urban centers in the United States. Great Lakes cities Detroit and Chicago are among those at risk.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study conducted by Columbia University researchers, published by the science journal Nature Cities.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/sinking-cities-great-lakes-cities-not-immune-from-under-recognized-threat/

Gary Wilson, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Agriculture, Blue Economy, Farming, Feature Homepage, Groundwater Contamination, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, The Blue Economy, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Conflict Over A Blockbuster Farm Chemical

Not since DDT was introduced to U.S. agriculture to kill insects after World War Two has a farm chemical been as important to American crop production, and come under more scientific, political, and legal scrutiny as the weedkiller Roundup, and its active ingredient, glyphosate.

With the election of President Donald Trump, the conflict over glyphosate’s risks and benefits entered a new realm of confrontation that has the potential to alter its stature as the favored chemical tool in agriculture, the largest user of fresh water in the blue economy of Michigan and the Great Lakes.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/conflict-over-a-blockbuster-farm-chemical/

Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue

On:
In: forever chemicals, Latest News, News, PFAS, PFAS News Roundup, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
EPA Outlines New PFAS Strategy Amid Expert Concerns

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

On May 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their plan to roll back significant portions of the Biden administration’s first nationwide drinking water standard for PFAS.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/epa-outlines-new-pfas-strategy-amid-expert-concerns/

Donte Smith

On:
In: Blue Economy, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Partnership, Climate change, Collaboration, Feature Homepage, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, News, water, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Water determines Great Lakes region’s economic future

Livelihoods and economies in the Great Lakes region always centered on water. From the manoomin, or wild rice, grown and revered by the Ojibwe people to the whitefish catch in Lake Michigan, to the water-dependent ports, steel mills, and manufacturers that dot thousands of miles of Fresh Coast lakeshore. The area’s liquid assets and the industries that developed around them form a “blue economy.”

The treasure trove of clean fresh water is seen as a competitive edge in a region hungry for growth and whose leaders boast about exporting the scientific breakthroughs and infrastructure hardware to solve the world’s water challenges.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/water-determines-great-lakes-regions-economic-future/

Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

On:
In: Algae Blooms, algal blooms, Collaboration, Drinking Water, lake erie, Latest News, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Research, Data and Technology, restoration, Science, Technology, Research, trump, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Millions of People Depend on the Great Lakes’ Water Supply. Trump Decimated the Lab Protecting It.

By Anna Clark, ProPublica

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

Just one year ago, JD Vance was a leading advocate of the Great Lakes and the efforts to restore the largest system of freshwater on the face of the planet.

As a U.S.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/millions-of-people-depend-on-the-great-lakes-water-supply-trump-decimated-the-lab-protecting-it/

ProPublica

On:
In: Authors, Groundwater Contamination, History and Culture, indigenous communities, Lake Superior, Latest News, News, Staci Lola Drouillard, Superfund site, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Chequamegon Bay Superfund site: History, environmental impact and its importance to Indigenous communities

Chequamegon Bay plays a significant role in our human lives, including past residents like the Huron and Ottawa; and current residents, the Ojibwe-Anishinaabeg, who have gathered and made history there for a millennia. An oblong, shallow bay (61 feet at the deepest point), on the south shore of Lake Superior, the water also holds dark history as a federal Superfund site.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/chequamegon-bay-superfund-site-history-impact-importance-to-indigenous-communities/

Staci Lola Drouillard, Great Lakes Now

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In: Authors, epa, forever chemicals, Latest News, Lisa John Rogers, News, PFAS, PFAS News Roundup, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
EPA nixes PFAS grants, teases new strategy

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

On April 15, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff were told to cancel tens of millions of dollars worth of pending and active grants.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/epa-nixes-pfas-grants-teases-new-strategy/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: First Nations, invasive species, Latest News, News, Ontario, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Can these invasive reeds be stopped?

Invasive phragmites are overwhelming Ontario’s wetlands, choking out native plants and wildlife. Towering up to 15 feet (5 meters) tall and spreading in dense clusters, this plant outcompetes native species, disrupts ecosystems, and threatens wildlife. But a team of dedicated experts and community members are fighting back.

Wetland ecologist Janice Gilbert is leading efforts at Kettle and Stony Point First Nation to combat phragmites.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/can-these-invasive-reeds-be-stopped/

Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Feature Homepage, Habitat Restoration, invasive species, Latest News, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Work
Could the Great Lakes lose billions in restoration funding?

The Great Lakes, the world’s largest system of fresh surface water, supply drinking water to about 40 million people. But industrial pollution, agricultural runoff, and invasive species have caused significant problems. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was created to address these issues and has received bipartisan support since its inception.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/could-the-great-lakes-lose-billions-in-restoration-funding/

Great Lakes Now

On:
In: African Great Lakes, Algae Blooms, harmful algal blooms, lake erie, Latest News, News, Research, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
One world, two Great Lakes

A tropical lake in Central Africa might not seem like the first place you would look to gain insights into North America’s Great Lakes. But that’s just what researchers from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Ohio have been doing for the past three years.

Lake Victoria is the largest of Africa’s Great Lakes, the second largest in the world after Lake Superior.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/03/one-world-two-great-lakes/

Brian Owens, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Authors, clean water act, epa, Feature Homepage, Latest News, Lisa John Rogers, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, supreme court, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
What a recent Supreme Court ruling could mean for the future of the Clean Water Act

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of San Francisco in a case about the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) sewage permits issued under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The court ruled that the EPA’s “end-result” water pollution permits are too speculative and that the EPA overstepped its authority in the case of San Francisco v.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/03/what-a-recent-supreme-court-ruling-could-mean-for-the-future-of-the-clean-water-act/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Authors, birds, conservation, Detroit, detroit river, Feature Homepage, Fish, Birds and Animals, John Hartig, Latest News, Michigan, News, Region, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Great Lakes Moment: Detroit River common terns under threat

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 PBS.

Common terns are known for their aerial acrobatics, performing rapid turns and swoops to the delight of those watching.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/03/great-lakes-moment-detroit-river-common-terns-under-threat/

John Hartig, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Duluth, History and Culture, indigenous communities, Latest News, Minnesota, News, water quailty, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
How do you heal a sacred lake?

For over 70 years, a massive U.S. Steel plant on the shores of Spirit Lake near Duluth, Minnesota dumped toxic waste into the water, causing lasting environmental damage to this sacred site.

Spirit Lake, once a vital ecosystem rich in fish, wild rice, and wildlife, was central to the homeland of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/how-do-you-heal-a-sacred-lake/

Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Feature Homepage, great lakes restoration, Latest News, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, trump, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments, vance, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Will JD Vance save the Great Lakes from Trump?

By Izzy Ross and Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist, Interlochen Public Radio in Northern Michigan, and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/will-jd-vance-save-the-great-lakes-from-trump/

Grist

On:
In: Detroit, Feature Detroit, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Southwest Detroit homes flooded, families displaced by water main rupture

By Isabelle Tavares, Planet Detroit

This article was republished with permission from Planet Detroit. Sign up for Planet Detroit’s weekly newsletter here.

Manuel Nolasco stood in frigid air outside his flooded Southwest Detroit home early Tuesday, chipping away at thick ice chunks that had frozen his car wheels in place.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/southwest-detroit-homes-flooded-families-displaced-by-water-main-rupture/

Planet Detroit

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In: Detroit, Feature Homepage, flooding, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, water infrastructure, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
After water main break, officials say homes in Detroit’s Southwest will get repairs covered

By Adam Yahya Rayes and Sarah Cwiek, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal 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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/after-water-main-break-officials-say-homes-in-detroits-southwest-will-get-repairs-covered/

Michigan Public

On:
In: artificial intelligence, Drinking Water, epa, Feature Homepage, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Michigan, News, PFAS, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Veteran Great Lakes advocate cautions on prioritizing economic development over protecting the environment

Rolling back clean water protection, gutting agencies and defunding science, research and monitoring is a non-starter for the Great Lakes region, says Ann Arbor environmental advocate Laura Rubin.

She was reacting to the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin’s recently released economy-oriented plan for the agency under President Donald Trump.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/veteran-great-lakes-advocate-cautions-prioritizing-economic-development-over-protecting-environment/

Gary Wilson, Great Lakes Now

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In: Authors, Latest News, Lisa John Rogers, News, PFAS, PFAS News Roundup, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
New York’s proposed PFAS legislation and other Great Lakes states latest efforts to combat ‘forever chemicals’

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

On February 5, New York state lawmakers announced a group of five bills aimed to reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure for New York residents.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/new-york-proposed-pfas-legislation-other-great-lakes-states-efforts-combat-forever-chemicals/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

On:
In: Feature Homepage, Latest News, News, PFAS, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin
Wisconsin is still sitting on $125 million for PFAS cleanup

This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.

By Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch

A year and a half after Wisconsin lawmakers earmarked $125 million to clean up toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, the funds have yet to flow to contaminated communities.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/wisconsin-is-still-sitting-on-125-million-for-pfas-cleanup/

Wisconsin Watch

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In: Latest News, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, News, PFAS, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
CDC awards biomonitoring grants to Great Lakes states, future funding unclear

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Isabella Figueroa, Great Lakes Echo

New grants to Great Lakes states to measure harmful chemicals in marginalized communities are facing uncertainty under increased White House scrutiny on federal spending.

In September 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a first round of $5 million across six state biomonitoring programs that measure chemicals in people.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/cdc-awards-biomonitoring-grants-to-great-lakes-states-future-funding-unclear/

Great Lakes Echo

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In: Algae Blooms, Feature Homepage, Fish, Birds and Animals, Latest News, News, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Geese are a problem. What can we do?

If you’ve been outside, you’ve probably run into branta canadesis — the Canada Goose.

From urban parks to rural fields, these birds seem to be everywhere. And their presence isn’t always welcome. Goose poop can contain e. coli bacteria, and the birds themselves can carry — and spread — avian flu.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/geese-are-a-problem-what-can-we-do/

Great Lakes Now

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In: Industry, Energy, Economic Development, infrastructure, Latest News, Michigan, News, PFAS, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Blue Tech challenge aims at gathering business solutions to Great Lakes problems

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.

A business competition to tackle environmental and infrastructure issues in the Great Lakes kicked off last week.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/blue-tech-challenge-aims-at-gathering-business-solutions-to-great-lakes-problems/

Interlochen Public Radio

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In: Authors, Connect, Feature Homepage, Habitat Restoration, invasive species, John Hartig, Latest News, Michigan, News, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Great Lakes Moment: Rouge River oxbow enhances education at The Henry Ford

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 PBS.

In the 1960s, an oxbow was eliminated in the lower Rouge River when a concrete channel was built to move stormwater out of the watershed.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/great-lakes-moment-rouge-river-oxbow-enhances-education-the-henry-ford/

John Hartig, Great Lakes Now

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In: Latest News, Michigan, News, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Points North: A Sticky Solution for Microplastics

By Michael Livingston, Interlochen Public Radio

Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio. 

Microplastics are everywhere.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/points-north-a-sticky-solution-for-microplastics/

Interlochen Public Radio

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In: Authors, Detroit, Feature Homepage, Habitat Restoration, James Proffitt, lake erie, Latest News, Michigan, News, Ohio, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
How Ducks Unlimited Became Heroes of the Conservation Movement

In the Great Lakes region alone, Ducks Unlimited (DU) has been involved in hundreds of projects in the past decade that involve either the conservation of wetlands through acquisition, or the restoration and management of wetlands. These projects — always in concert with public and private partners, universities and other organizations — seek to establish or conserve the maximum amount of acreage possible with available funds.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/01/how-ducks-unlimited-became-heroes-of-the-conservation-movement/

James Proffitt, Great Lakes Now