Michigan officials are urging the Flint City Council to approve a plan to secure American Rescue Plan Act funds, and a loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, with the purpose of repairing and replacing two outdated city sewer lines. Read the full story by WNEM-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231213-flint-pipes
According to an annual report by the Great Lakes Commission, water use from the Great Lakes basin dropped 3% in 2022 compared to the year before. Water usage from the Great Lakes may have declined, but it was still a staggering amount — more than 40 billion gallons per day — nearly all of it returned to the basin. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-water-use
The Icebreaker Wind Project, a pilot project to put six wind turbines in Lake Erie about eight miles off Cleveland, Ohio, has been put on hold amid rising costs and other challenges that have delayed progress and dimmed its chances of success. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-erie-wind
London, Ontario residents and downstream communities may soon be able to see in near real-time when wastewater is being dumped during high rainfall events into the Thames River, which drains into Lake St. Clair. The city hopes to have a website with overflow and bypass event data online early next year. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-thames-overflows
Despite opposition from local environmental justice advocates, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has approved an air pollution permit for a new slag grinding plant near Zug Island on the Rouge and Detroit rivers, in River Rouge, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-slag-grinder
The Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin cleans wastewater and returns the clean water back to Lake Michigan. Milwaukee was a pioneer in this, becoming the first city in the country to do so in the 1920s. Read the full story by WDJT-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-water-reclamation
Though western Lake Erie’s 2023 algal bloom season is finally over, a Wisconsin researcher points out that the public view on algal bloom seasonality needs to change as scum formations continue to form earlier, hang around longer, and become more prominent throughout the Great Lakes region and the rest of the world. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-algal-blooms
Some of the people who worked to draft a binational agreement to protect the Great Lakes gathered at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan in December to mark the 15th anniversary of the approval of the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact which governs how the states manage the Great Lakes basin’s water supply. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-water-compact
Researchers from Central Michigan University surveyed native mussels in the upper reaches of the Tittabawassee River watershed in mid-Michigan and found declines in populations since the last survey performed in the region 40 years ago. Read the full story by The Morning Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-mussel-survey
Two townships on Beaver Island, Michigan, Lake Michigan’s largest island, are exploring the feasibility of building solar power generation to provide electricity for the island’s roughly 600 year-round residents and the thousands who visit during the summer tourism season. The overall goals are better energy security and to transition away from fossil fuels. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-island-solar
Released into the wild, the humble goldfish can grow to a monstrous size and destroy habitats for native species. Canadian researchers are tracking the fish, so that they might be culled. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231211-giant-goldfish
Complaints have flown online in recent weeks about a plastic-like taste and smell to the water in south London, Ontario – an area served by the same drinking water system that draws from Lake Erie. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-smelly-water
A Michigan environmental group will be testing four different data collection methods to assess chloride contamination in the Rouge River this winter, thanks to grant funding from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Read the full story by the Southfield Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-road-salt
As researchers scrolled through “camera trap” images, they saw many of the common species found in the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. But a series of photos collected after dark in July 2022 were different, and featured the state-endangered American marten. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-endangered-marten
There are 55 lighthouses along Wisconsin’s shores, the majority dating back to the 1800s. For centuries, the beacons of light ensured the safe passage of ships crossing the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Up North News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-wisconsin-lighthouses
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s plans to generate all of Michigan’s energy from renewable sources by 2040 may have positive and negative consequences for the state’s waters. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-energy-plan
There are multiple ways PFAS can be absorbed by beef, dairy, poultry, and fish, including by sewage sludge that has been contaminated with PFAS and applied to the land as fertilizer. Ground and surface water can act as another source for PFAS contamination. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-pfas-contamination
Engineers will install more defenses to keep invasive fish from getting past a crucial choke point at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam along the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois. The plan includes using noisemakers, a bubble curtain, an electric barrier, and flushing lock. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-invasive-carp
DTE Energy and The Nature Conservancy have partnered to remove close to 150 acres of invasive phragmites on the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant property in Newport, Michigan. The large, perennial reeds found in wetlands are putting the Great Lakes at risk. Read the full story by Monroe Evening News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-phragmites-removal
An announcement was made earlier this week that the EPA wants to get rid of lead pipes that provide drinking water within the next decade. However, the EPA mandate makes an exception for places where it would be almost impossible to replace all of the lead pipes within 10 years, including Chicago. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-lead-pipes
Stand Up for Great Lakes, a group of three men who’ve paddle boarded across all of five of the Great Lakes, said on Tuesday they have donated $25,200 to the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-stand-up-for-great-lakes
The Army Corps of Engineers is set to start building a barrier near Chicago to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes next October. But Illinois still has not signed a Project Partnership agreement that would make it responsible for problems that arise such as environmental cleanups. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-invasive-carp-barrier
A pair of filmmakers who spent two years shooting footage for a documentary about invasive mussels in the Great Lakes accidentally discovered a 128-year-old shipwreck that vanished in 1895.The wreck is believed to be the Africa, which disappeared in 1895. Read the full story by Business Insider.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-lake-huron-shipwreck
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Friday that officials caught 296 silver carp, 23 grass carp and four bighead carp in what the agency called the largest single capture of invasive carp in Minnesota to date. DNR staff think it is likely the fish moved upstream and didn’t hatch in Minnesota waters. Read the full story by WCCO-TV – Minneapolis, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-invasive-carp
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s plan to generate all of Michigan’s energy from renewable sources by 2040 is meant to limit climate change gases. But the development of a new renewable energy sector to produce methane from liquid manure produced by large livestock feeding operations, also has consequences on the state’s waters. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-manure-energy
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management has launched two new online resources to help Ohioans and visitors discover publicly accessible parklands and protected lands along Ohio’s 312-mile Lake Erie shore and along the major rivers that flow into the lake. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-erie-shoreline-map
Ohio Rep. Dave Joyce introduced a bill to reauthorize the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act through 2028. The bill would develop and coordinate effective responses to harmful algal blooms and monitor the blooms. Read the full story by the Star Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-hab-bill
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers say a critical bridge between the bordering states on Lake Superior needs to be replaced. Their transportation departments have requested over $1 billion in federal funding to rebuild the John A. Blatnik Bridge, which connects Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231206-blatnik-bridge
Michigan’s three-person Public Service Commission approved a $500 million plan Friday to encase a portion of an aging oil pipeline in a protective tunnel that runs beneath a channel connecting two Great Lakes, leaving just one more regulatory hurdle for the contentious project. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-pipeline-tunnel-approved
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation this week to make manoomin – wild rice – the state’s official native grain. The keystone aquatic plant with special importance to Indigenous peoples is now a Michigan state symbol just like the Petoskey stone and white pine tree. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-state-grain
Researchers at the Large Lakes Observatory at University of Minnesota Duluth say Lake Superior has warmed one degree per decade since the 1980s, making it one of the fastest-warming lakes in the world. Read the full story by WCCO-TV – Minneapolis, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-lake-warming
The Michigan Department of Transportation has been awarded $10,000,000 in federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to build a new passenger ferry between Charlevoix and Beaver Island, Michigan. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-ferry-funding
A 13-year-old Champion, New York, resident started an educational YouTube channel about maritime history along the Great Lakes, which has been well received by thousands of followers. You can check out his work on his YouTube channel, Top Impressive Line. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Carthage, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-maritime-youtube-channel
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is urging caution around Great Lakes piers and breakwaters, especially during high winds and waves. One USACE official explains that it is more dangerous to wander out on to the piers this time of year. Read the full story by WSJM – Benton Harbor, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-pier-warning
State and federal agencies have spent millions of dollars to stop the spread of invasive carp still threatening the health of Great Lakes waters. Tools used to control invasive carp are varied but include electric barriers, walls of bubbles and underwater speakers used to net large numbers of carp. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-carp-control
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, dubbed the “Christmas Tree Ship,” stopped on its way to Chicago, where trees are donated to families in need, to return an anchor unintentionally recovered from the 1895 Lake Michigan shipwreck of the schooner Kate Kelly. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-anchor-returned
Near Belle Isle, Michigan, the commercial vessel Barbro G became stuck in the Detroit River on November 27 while carrying 21,000 tons of wheat to Montreal, Québec. It took three tugs from Great Lakes Towing to refloat this 2010-built ship from the mud. Read the full story by Riviera Maritime Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-ship-refloat
The author of two editions of Great Lakes Water Wars released a new book that touches on recycling wastewater for drinking water. The author readily acknowledges the controversy and dissent but says the push behind wastewater transformation is driven by the need for water conservation in many areas of the country. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231204-water-book-published
Despite residential water use dropping in the Great Lakes region, service rates and fees are rising at almost twice the rate of median household income, and water shut-offs are increasingly common. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-water-use-drop
More than 1,000 Christmas trees were loaded onto the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw to be taken from northern Michigan and donated to families in need in Chicago. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-christmas-tree-ship
The presence of starry stonewort was discovered with the help of a landowner participating in a project combatting invasive exotic species between Lake Saint-François and Lake Saint-Louis in Dundee, Quebec. Read the full story by The Gleaner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-invasive-discovery
The U.S. Coast Guard is renaming two of its Great Lakes command sectors. Sector Buffalo will become “Sector Eastern Great Lakes” and Sector Sault Ste. Marie will become “Sector Northern Great Lakes.” The changes are in name only as the facility locations and operations will not change. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-command-sector-rename
Creating an underwater curtain of bubbles and/or a band of high-frequency sound stretching across the Sandusky River in Fremont, Ohio has the potential to block upstream migration of grass carp. However, it could come with potential impacts to native fishes. Read the full story by Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-grass-carp-barrier
Intense rains from climate change are leading to flooded farm fields in Michigan and across the entire Great Lakes region. The Michigan Farm Bureau is promoting soil health practices to prevent flushes of nutrients from entering the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-water-challenges
In addition to requiring utility providers to transition to 100% carbon-free energy generation by 2040, the state of Michigan has also set a goal for utilities to generate 50% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. This is a significant leap from the current 12%. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-michigan-clean-energy
After identifying that polluted air from a nearby coal plant in northern Wisconsin was affecting their reservation, Forest County Potawatomi leaders applied for a special classification that would recognize the importance of clean air and help them protect it. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-tribal-action
Nearly a third of Americans named climate change as a motivation to move. Some are headed to places that experts say will be relatively pleasant to live in as the world heats up, with researchers pointing to the Great Lakes region and Michigan in particular. Read the full story by Yale Climate Connections.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-climate-haven
In Pennsylvania, Mazza Vineyards is located along the southeast shoreline of Lake Erie where the regions cooler climate and breezy days are comparable to wine regions in Germany. Read the full story by TheBurg.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-erie-wine
A newly discovered chemical compound, petromyzonol tetrasolfate – also known as 3sPZS, makes it difficult for invasive sea lamprey to find their breeding grounds and may be a new tool in the toolbox for controlling a parasite that threatens Great Lakes fish. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231127-lamprey-control
Researchers at the University of Waterloo urge for the reduction of road salt applied during the winter months to reduce impacts of salinization on Ontario’s groundwater and lakes. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231127-ontario-salt
