At almost 300 sites on the Great Lakes and coast to coast, unregulated buried and landfilled coal ash is putting water supplies at risk, alleges a federal lawsuit filed August 25. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-coal-ash
For the many coal plants located on the shores of the Great Lakes, coal ash flooding into the lakes and tributaries is a serious risk highlighted in a June 2022 report by the Environmental Law & Policy Center that focused on how climate change could exacerbate rainfall and high lake levels in southern Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-coal-ash-climate-change
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy confirmed the presence of Didymosphenia geminata, or didymo — a nuisance algae known as “rock snot” — in a stretch of the Boardman River. Read the full story by the Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-rock-snot
The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation is studying how fish species spawn in Lake Ontario and hoping to help boost their population in the process by creating two “spawning reefs” in Chaumont Bay and Black River Bay, for several species of native fish. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Dexter, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-lake-ontario
Located at Lake Superior State University’s Richard & Theresa Barch Center for Freshwater Research and Education, the Center of Expertise will conduct research examining the impacts of oil spills in freshwater environments to help develop effective responses. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-coast-guard
Ohio’s South Bass Islands are hoping visitors are able to vacation and learn about the importance of Lake Erie. Ohio Sea Grant’s Aquatic Visitors Center and the Ohio State University’s Stone Lab are hard at work helping tourists understand the shared responsibility for this natural resource. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-south-bass-island
A football sized goldfish, which likely was a released pet, was caught on Pine River which flows into Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. Read the full story by the Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-goldfish
Large amounts of “unsightly” and smelly vegetation has been washing up on Toronto’s Cherry Beach shoreline recently, but the director of water programs at Swim Drink Fish Canada says there’s no need for alarm. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-cherry-beach
The Lake Erie Volunteer Science Network — a collaboration of 16 local water quality monitoring programs convened by the Cleveland Water Alliance — has published a set of standards for volunteer-collected data. The standards aim to empower communities to tell a new regional story about the health of watersheds and support smart environmental education, research, and management. Read the full story by WaterWorld.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-data
Québec’s cold waters are and extremely low levels of pollution from industrial or urban sources is favorable for high quality algae growth. Fifteen species are now certified “Fourchette bleue” or Blue Fork 2022, a Québec certification that aims to introduce new marine products to the public while also supporting sustainable use of the resource. Read the full story by The Conservation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220826-algae
At Pere Marquette Beach in Muskegon, Michigan, Meijer announced the launch of two drones to clean up microplastics—small fragments of plastic in the environment resulting from broken down trash and debris—that have been polluting the Great Lakes shoreline. Read the full story by WOOD-TV — Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-cleanup-drones
In Ontario, trash that had been flushed down the toilet has ended up in Toronto Harbour due to combined sewage and stormwater pipes that overflow during heavy rainfalls. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-sewer-overflows
A circulating petition in Haldimand County, Ontario, is asking Conservation Ontario to streamline the process to allow property owners to conduct restoration work to remedy increased erosion to the Lake Erie shoreline. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-lakeerie-erosion
Members of the Ojibwe Tribe in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota have stewarded land that grows wild rice for centuries. Now, chiefs and scientists with the tribes are working with the Department of Natural Resources and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission to protect the remaining rice lakes from further damage. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-ricelake-protection
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, below-average precipitation will likely lead to Lake Ontario water levels dropping another five inches by September 19. Read the full story by WIVT-TV — Binghamton, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-waterlevel-dropping
In Marquette, Michigan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workers poured a chemical used to kill sea lamprey into Dead River, a spawning spot for the invasive species. Read the full story by WLUC-TV — Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-lamprey-treatment
Flint, Michigan, was unaffected by the water main break that affected 23 southeast Michigan communities due to Flint’s secondary water source from the Genesee County Drain Commission, a recent upgrade to the city’s water system. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-watersupply-upgrades
Property owners in Porter, Indiana, are seeking to undo a 2018 Indiana Supreme Court ruling that proclaimed the shoreline of Lake Michigan to be owned by the state and held in trust for the enjoyment of all Hoosiers. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-lawsuit-publicshoreline
A bilingual children’s book is now available at Grand Haven State Park, Michigan, to educate children on water safety measures due to increasingly frequent drownings along the West Michigan shoreline. Read the full story by the Grand Haven Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-watersafety-education
Great Lakes Water Authority officials announced that a replacement pipe scheduled to be delivered Tuesday to the site of a major water main break in Metro Detroit has been delayed until the end of the week. This delay could postpone repair efforts and cause another boil water advisory if water pressure is impacted by repairs. Read the full story by WDIV-TV — Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220824-watermain-repairdelay
On Thursday morning, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz, and members of their staffs boarded boats to enjoy the lake they have worked hard to protect. They fished for perch, cast for walleye, and searched for ways to further collaborate in their efforts to preserve Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-ohiogov-lakeeriefishingtrip
How do you make Lake Erie “smart”? The Cleveland Water Alliance (CWA) set out to do just that. Inspired by smart cities where you can get real-time traffic updates or find a parking space on your phone, they wondered… ‘what could the lake tell us?’ Now, the CWA is impacting public health and safety while attracting good-paying jobs to Cleveland. They are diving into the water economy. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-smartlakeerie-clejobs
Mike Shoreman said he is first person with a disability to cross all 5 Great Lakes in one summer via paddleboard. Read the full story by Local 4 News – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-paddleboarder-greatlakes
The Great Lakes Seaway Partnership today announced the tonnage report for traffic through the St. Lawrence Seaway through July, showing a continuation to a steady 2022 shipping season. Read the full story by KIWA – Sheldon, IA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-grainshipments-greatlakes-stlawrence
A new Beaver Island passenger ferry is expected to be built in the next three to five years after the state of Michigan budgeted $14 million for the vessel, according to officials of the Beaver Island Boat Company which operates the ferry service between Charlevoix, Michigan and Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Mlive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-beaverisland-ferry
A project near Superior is part of a plan to restore habitat for marsh birds in the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-birdloss-greatlakesregion
When Sen. Gary Peters, in a committee hearing this month, asked a senior official whether the Air Force would begin using new federal health advisory levels for PFAS in its cleanups, the answer was equivocal. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-airforce-new-epa-pfaslimits
An Ontario family paddled for 195 kilometres downstream on the St. Lawrence River this summer, in pursuit of a mission to canoe all the way from Guelph, Ont., to the Atlantic Ocean. Their canoe journey started six years ago, when some members of the family decided to explore the rivers near Guelph, their hometown. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-ontariofamilypaddles-stlawrenceriver
There have been more beach advisories issued this week along parts of Lake Superior. The Minnesota Department of Health says the only current advisory to not enter the water is at Twin Points Public Access Beach, north of Gooseberry Falls State Park, which began on Tuesday. The alert is due to water testing finding elevated E. coli bacteria levels. Read the full story by Fox 21 Online.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-ripcurrentrisks-ecolioutbreaks
The Great Lakes Water Authority announced that the boil water advisory, which has been in effect for seven communities since a water main break was discovered on Aug. 13, has been lifted. Only one business in Greenwood remains under a boil water advisory. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220822-watermainbreak-boiladvisorylifted
Professor emeritus of environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan Don Scavia explains why voluntary measures to control the nutrient runoff from farms that fuels the blooms haven’t worked and are unlikely to, and called on the EPA to shift its focus from practices to outcomes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-alagl-blooms
Work is underway on two projects meant to bolster the flood resiliency of parks in the Cayuga County village of Fair Haven, New York, in response to flooding along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by The Citizen.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-flood-resiliency
A federal judge Thursday kept jurisdiction over a lawsuit seeking to close an oil pipeline crossing a section of the Great Lakes, rejecting Michigan’s effort to shift the case to state court. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-enbridge
An increasing number of hybrid pink and chinook salmon, “pinook”, are being caught in Lake Michigan but where exactly they are coming from remains a mystery. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-pinook
Pere Marquette beach in Muskegon, Michigan is the focus of an upcoming community cleanup effort that will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22 as part of the Alliance for the Great Lakes’ Adopt-A-Beach program. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-beach-cleanup
Scientists for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will begin research later this month on sea lampreys in and around Michigan’s Long Lake to estimate sea lamprey populations. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-lamprey
After a decade long hiatus, residents and tourists will soon be able to enjoy boat tours on the Canadian side of the St. Marys River again. Sault Lock Tours says it is excited to present the ‘Miss Marie,’ a 100-person capacity vessel that recently arrived at the Roberta Bondar dock. Read and listen to the full story by Soo Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-boat-tours
Illinois is fifth in the nation for clean energy jobs and investing in offshore wind will keep Illinois on the path to sustainability and continued economic growth. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-offshore-energy
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is hosting a public meeting to gather feedback on the management of salmon and trout on Lake Michigan on Tuesday, Aug. 30, where DNR staff members will present the latest Lake Michigan survey information. Read the full story by the Ozaukee Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-trout-meeting
A combined $4.5 million in funding will allow five projects in Ozaukee Country, Wisconsin to get funded including Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve along Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220819-ozaukee-county
A boil-water advisory could last up to two weeks for more than 130,000 people in southeastern Michigan as crews repair a water pipe break affecting 23 communities. The break was discovered Saturday on a critical pipe in St. Clair County, which carries treated water from Lake Huron and is the largest in the Great Lakes Water Authority system. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-water-advisory
For the first time in more than 70 years, two pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers have nested and successfully fledged five chicks from Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-piping-plover
Shimmy, a Blanding’s turtle, had been tracked numerous times by biologists on the north shore of Lake Erie, who remarked on his “odd characteristics”: two missing feet, at the front left and rear right. So, when Shimmy, whose species is classified as “threatened” in Ontario, showed up more than 100 kilometres at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario, how he managed to traverse roads, towns and farmland presented a mystery. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-turtle
Officials for the City of Hamilton announced plans to start dredging operations to remove hazardous sediment from Chedoke Creek, which received 24 billion liters of sewage from a combined sewer overflow between 2014 and 2018. The spill originated where Chedoke Creek connects with Lake Ontario at Princess Point. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-dredging
A pair of bright orange unmanned watercraft created by the California-based company Saildrone, will be plying the waters of western Lake Superior for the next month as part of a fish population study for the United States Geological Survey. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-saildrone
On the weekend of July 29, Tribar Manufacturing in Wixom, Michigan, released hexavalent chromium into the Wixom Sewage Treatment Facility, which discharges into the Huron River system. After almost two weeks, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has lifted its no-contact recommendation on parts of the Huron River following the chemical spill. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-chromium-spill
In an update to a harmful algal bloom detection in Lake Erie, Michigan’s Monroe County has lifted a whole-body contact advisory for Sterling State Park but retained the advisory at Luna Pier Beach, both of which border Lake Erie. The public is advised to keep aware of changing conditions and to avoid water activities in areas where the advisory remains. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220817-algae
The Mark W. Barker will be the first new U.S.-built bulk carrier to serve the Great Lakes in 35 years. Read the full story by WBAY – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220815-freighter
Despite the ongoing work being done to clean up the Great Lakes since the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was signed in 1972, the people of the U.S. and Canada have become complacent too soon after the pact’s early success. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220815-great-lakes-pollution
Technicians are visiting more than 350 survey monuments along the U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes shoreline to take new measurements for the International Great Lakes Datum. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220815-datum-survey
