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.

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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

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.

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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

Are data centers a threat to the Great Lakes?

Benton Harbor on Lake Michigan’s southeast coast is known to visitors for its vacation feel and beautiful beaches.

But it’s also one of the poorest cities in Michigan. In recent years, the area has struggled to find the funds to invest in critical infrastructure, most noticeably for its water supply which until recently had tested for dangerously high levels of lead.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/are-data-centers-a-threat-to-great-lakes/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

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

Will Congress and the President approve money to finish the Soo Lock expansion?

One of the Great Lakes region’s most critical pieces of infrastructure is in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on the St. Mary’s River, which connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron and eventually to the rest of the lakes.

The locks on the river handle up to 1,000-foot-long ships, enabling them to carry bulk freight from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to ports throughout the Great Lakes region.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/will-congress-and-the-president-approve-money-to-finish-the-soo-lock-expansion/

Lester Graham, Michigan Public

An $80M cleanup made Muskegon Lake trendy. Will ‘eco-gentrification’ follow?

New luxury homes, yacht slips, and trendy hotels and restaurants are cropping up along the glittering waterfront of this west Michigan city.

Nothing unusual for the Lake Michigan coast, long known for beach towns that cater to summer vacationers and wealthy second-homers. But to those familiar with Muskegon’s blue collar history, it’s a stunning transformation.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/an-80m-cleanup-made-muskegon-lake-trendy-will-eco-gentrification-follow/

Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

Keeping the $5.5 billion Great Lakes fishery afloat as Trump administration considers cuts

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station is based in a building that was constructed in 1917, originally as a federal fish hatchery. It wasn’t the first on this site. An earlier hatchery was built in 1894.

The U.S. government was trying to replenish the fish population.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/keeping-the-5-5-billion-great-lakes-fishery-afloat-as-trump-administration-considers-cuts/

Lester Graham, Michigan Public