The Great Lakes have been receding from record high water levels over the past few years. The amount of water that has left the Great Lakes is staggering. Each Great Lake peaked in a different year, and each of the Great Lakes’ water levels have fallen from there. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-lakemichigan-lakehuron-waterloss
Fishing reports from charter captains and walleye tournament anglers have spotlighted the outstanding early-season walleye fishing in the deeper waters of the Central Basin of Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-lakeerie-walleyefishing
The round goby, a prolific and destructive invasive fish, has spread from the Great Lakes all the way to the Hudson River. New York’s canal operators are trying to keep it from invading Lake Champlain too. Read the full story by The River.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-roundgoby-hudsonriver
The round goby, a prolific and destructive invasive fish, has spread from the Great Lakes all the way to the Hudson River. New York’s canal operators are trying to keep it from invading Lake Champlain too. Read the full story by The River.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-roundgoby-hudsonriver
Fishing seasons for muskellunge begin on June 1 in inland waters and June 15 in the Great Lakes waters of Lake Erie, Upper Niagara River, Lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-muskieseason-greatlakes
Fishing seasons for muskellunge begin on June 1 in inland waters and June 15 in the Great Lakes waters of Lake Erie, Upper Niagara River, Lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-muskieseason-greatlakes
Michigan Senator Gary Peters has introduced legislation to strengthen federal pipeline safety measures and mandate better oil spill cleanup methods. The new legislation is called Preventing Releases of Toxic Environment Contaminants Threatening Our Great Lakes Act – called PROTECT for short. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-legislation-preventoilspills-greatlakes
Fish caught in certain areas of Akwesasne should not be consumed. This is based on a warning from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Environment Division. Read the full story by ABC50 NOW.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-contaminatedfish-ny
Just how big an underinvestment Ontario is facing when it comes to the state of its drinking and wastewater infrastructure is difficult to tabulate. Some estimate the province is investing billions of dollars less than what’s needed to keep the system running smoothly. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-ontario
Experts say Michigan needs deep changes to water policy and financing, such as reducing the number of water systems, collecting and cataloging performance data, and ensuring the poorest residents can afford their bills. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-drinking-water
The first U.S. Navy vessel to dock in the local port since 1993, when the Navy conducted regular Great Lakes tours, was outlined in festive bunting Thursday as it docked on Rice’s Point. The hulking, nearly 400-foot war ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul is scheduled to be commissioned into the Navy during a ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday in Duluth, Minnesota. Read the full story by The Bemidji Pioneer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-warship-duluth
Algal blooms can become toxic under the right conditions. Researchers project an average bloom in 2022 based on current observations and rain forecasts. Read the full story by WDET – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-lakeerie-algaebloompredictions
Great Lakes ports are seeing a major jump in agriculture exports as the war in Ukraine’s ripple effects on global grain markets continue to play out. Read the full story by Michigan Farm News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-greatlakesshipments
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the boat will focus on cleaning up Lake Michigan, Green Bay, and the Fox River. They’ll specifically target areas around marinas, where they expect to find concentrations of litter. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220520-pollutionvessel-greatlakes
By Tara Lohan, The Revelator
This story originally appeared in The Revelator and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
This month regulators greenlighted a transmission line that would bring power generated from Canadian hydroelectric dams to New York City.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/stock-methane-emissions-reservoirs/
ST. PAUL (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday activated the National Guard to help control record flooding in areas of northeastern Minnesota.
Emergency management officials in St. Louis and Koochiching counties requested the assistance to deal with high water caused by heavy spring rains and rapid snowmelt throughout the Rainy River Basin.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ap-national-guard-minnesota-flooding/
Geo Rutherford is a self-described Great Lakes enthusiast that built a large following—the same number that the Washington Post has—by making educational TikTok videos about the Great Lakes and other lakes around the world.
The post Spooky lakes and beach trash: How a Wisconsin teacher and artist gained 1.3 million TikTok followers first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/05/20/spooky-lakes-and-beach-trash-how-a-wisconsin-teacher-and-artist-gained-1-3-million-tiktok-followers/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
Illinois American Water is investing over $3 million to replace over 8,600 feet or 1.6 miles of water main throughout the Sterling Water System.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/drinking-water-news-roundup-illinois-water-system-coal-ash-indiana/
By Shawn McCarthy, Corporate Knights
This story originally appeared in Corporate Knights and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Canada must make up for lost ground if it’s going to meet its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 45% from 2005 levels by 2030.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/canada-ranks-last-climate-progress/
Groundwater pollution project is first to use cancer imaging technology in novel way
A Wisconsin Water Resources Institute project is exploring how bacteria and other water contaminants flow through soil by applying a medical technology widely used for cancer imaging.
Chris Zahasky, assistant professor in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, received two years of funding to study soil types in the two most vulnerable geologic settings in Wisconsin for groundwater pollution. Those are the Central Sands district, which features sandy soil, and Kewaunee County along Lake Michigan, which features fractured bedrock. Zahasky is investigating how E. coli bacteria – one of the main water contaminants in Wisconsin – percolates through the soil and ends up polluting groundwater and people’s private wells.
His research team hypothesizes that flow of contaminated water though soil that’s highly permeable leads to bacterial contamination of groundwater at greater distances from the pollution source than what was thought possible based on previous laboratory measurements in more stable, homogeneous geologic materials.
“With a better understanding of these transport and travel pathways, we can build better models to understand and manage the risks associated with these contaminants,” Zahasky said. “We all know the source of bacteria and nitrate. In Wisconsin, it’s largely from certain agricultural activities. Ideally, we can make better decisions about the times of the year that you might do manure spreading or certain geologic setting that shouldn’t have manure spread on them because of the ability for these bacteria to travel through this material and get down to the groundwater.”
Zahasky and his team are conducting their research in the lab with soil samples they’ve gathered from the Central Sands area and Kewaunee County. They measure the soil’s properties, then pack it into large tubular columns and inject water through the material in a controlled manner. Then they add bacteria they’ve grown and pump them into the columns.
This is where the cancer imaging technology comes in. It’s called positron emission tomography (PET). In medical situations, doctors use PET with radio tracers to identify tumors in the body. It’s also used in some cases for cancer therapy treatment. The radio tracers are basically a radioactive sugar molecule. Cancer tumor cells have a high metabolism and so they uptake (eat) these sugar molecules at a higher rate than other cells in the body, which is what the PET ends up imaging.
Zahasky explained how this works for his purposes. “We leverage that imaging technique by radio labelling these bacteria, which means that we attach these radioactive isotopes to the bacteria that are emitted as they travel through these columns. As we’re imaging them, we can essentially track where these bacteria are going, how fast they’re getting there and where they’re getting stuck.
“We’re the first people in the world to radio label bacteria for environmental and geologic purposes. We’re pretty excited about this,” Zahasky said.
How do they attach radioactive isotopes to tiny bacteria? Zahasky said it’s not complicated. “We grow the bacteria until just the right point – where they’re starting to get hungry. Then we add this radio-labeled sugar and they just gobble it up. The bacteria eat the sugars just like tumor cells do.”
Zahasky developed this approach during his Ph.D. work at Stanford University. However, many of the isotopes required for this imaging are produced at the University of Wisconsin Cyclotron Lab. So, it made sense for him to continue his research at UW-Madison, where he has built capability with support from a National Science Foundation grant.
“It allowed my research group to leverage this type of imaging in lots of new ways that just weren’t possible without having access to these facilities here on campus,” he said.
Zahasky plans to apply this technique to future studies involving the movement of microplastics and other contaminants such as heavy metals.
The post Percolating pollution first appeared on WRI.News Release | WRI
https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/percolating-pollution/
Wisconsin Water Library
https://waterlibrary.aqua.wisc.edu/celebrating-a-wisconsin-naturalist-summer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=celebrating-a-wisconsin-naturalist-summer
This is part two in a two-part series looking at the cost of water in Ontario. Read part one here, and find the Great Lakes News Collaborative’s series on cost of water in Michigan here.
Just how big an underinvestment Ontario is facing when it comes to the state of its drinking and wastewater infrastructure is difficult to tabulate.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/ontario-uneven-investment-water-infrastructure/
Coastal restoration efforts are underway across the state as recipients of the Michigan Coastal Management Program grants begin work locally. Seventeen awards totaling more than $1.1 million will fund projects and initiatives to protect, preserve and enhance the state’s coastal resources.
The post More beach, boat access planned from coastal grants first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/05/19/more-beach-boat-access-planned-from-coastal-grants/
Fresh is a biweekly newsletter from Circle of Blue that unpacks the biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today. Sign up for Fresh: A Great Lakes Policy Briefing, straight to your inbox, every other Tuesday.
— Laura Gersony, Fresh Editor
This Week’s Watersheds
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/fresh-epa-minnesota-mining-permit/
A pair of 20-something lake sturgeons in a “touch tank” are ready to greet summer visitors to a new freshwater science center at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-lakeerie-algalbloom
A pair of 20-something lake sturgeons in a “touch tank” are ready to greet summer visitors to a new freshwater science center at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-sturgeon-touchtank
The city of South Haven, Michigan, has the authority to close beaches and Lake Michigan piers when there are unsafe conditions, after a new ordinance was adopted in January. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-southhaven-unsafepiers
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has awarded money through its Boating Facility Grant Program that will lead to several new fishing and boating access areas open to public use. Read the full story by The Patriot-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-pa-anglers-access
This is part one in a two-part series looking at the cost of water in Ontario. Find the Great Lakes News Collaborative’s series on cost of water in Michigan here.
Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin have perhaps become spoiled at the seemingly endless availability of water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/canada-aging-infrastructure-rising-costs/
Have you caught any odd-looking walleye from Lake Huron? The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said it had received several reports of possible tissue degeneration in walleye from Lake Huron in the town of Au Gres, Michigan. Read the full story by WSMH-TV – Flint, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-discoloredwalleye
For two centuries, Marblehead Lighthouse has been a towering mainstay along Lake Erie’s shoreline. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is hosting a series of events this year to honor Marblehead Lighthouse’s bicentennial anniversary. Read the full story by the Fremont News-Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-marbleheadlighthouse
Researchers from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University met in Traverse City, Michigan, to discuss the impacts of microplastics pollution. More than 22 million pounds of plastic go into the Great Lakes every year. Read the full story by WKBD-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-freighter-microplastics-greatlakes
If you want to feel small, stand a few feet from a 740-foot freighter as it slides past on its way out of a 1,200-foot shipping lock at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-freighter-soolocks
More than $100 million in funding for restoration to portions of the St. Louis River near Duluth, Minnesota, was announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday. A large portion will be funded through President Biden’s infrastructure law, which will accelerate long-awaited work in St. Louis River Area of Concern on Lake Superior. Read the full story by KSMP-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-greatlakes-duluth-restorationprojects
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials are forecasting that Great Lakes water levels will continue their seasonal rise. Read the full story by Radio Results Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220518-greatlakes-waterlevels
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/twenty-years-drought-examined
The same supply chain disruptions that slow Michigan manufacturing could help the recycling industry bring in new business.
The post Supply chain slowdown could boost demand for recycled materials first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/05/18/supply-chain-slowdown-could-boost-demand-for-recycle-materials/
When Monty and Rose – Chicago’s beloved piping plover pair – first successfully nested at Montrose Beach, a popular place on the city’s north side, people celebrated the potential return of a dying bird species and were charmed by the adorable tiny birds.
The Great Lakes piping plover population has been a U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/monty-passes-rose-location-question/
The Great Lakes News Collaborative looks at the cost of water in the region and beyond.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/waters-true-cost-episode-2205/
The 2021 Great Lakes Commission Annual Report includes remarks from Chair Todd L. Ambs and Executive Director Erika Jensen. The Commission’s annual reports traditionally include remarks from our chair and executive director as well as information regarding revenues, expenses, and commissioners.
Download PDF | Published May 2022
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/library/2021-glc-annual-report
In our newest TikTok, Echo reporter Brooklyn Peppo explores the potential negative health effects of breathing in lake breeze.
The post Lake breeze can be harmful to health: TikTok edition first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/05/17/lake-breeze-can-be-harmful-to-health-tiktok-edition/
In our newest TikTok, Echo reporter Brooklyn Peppo explores the potential negative health effects of breathing in lake breeze.
The post Lake breeze can be harmful to health: TikTok edition first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/05/17/lake-breeze-can-be-harmful-to-health-tiktok-edition/
A new study from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, projects a roasty future in Canadian cities as temperatures continue to rise, warming on average at twice the global rate. Read the full story by Toronto Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-canada
For more than 100 years we managed to foul the world’s largest freshwater resource to the point that their waters were undrinkable, unswimmable, unfishable. The GLRI is not a debt we are pushing onto future taxpayers, it is a debt we are paying off from our past actions. And it makes economic sense, as restoration dollars return two to three times their investment in value to our region and our nation. Read the full story by The Hill.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-glri
In a brief announcement on social media, news was shared late last week that Monty the piping plover has died. Monty’s unexpected death left members of Chicago’s birding community stunned, as well as those who’ve been following his romance with mate Rose from afar for the past four years. Read the full story by WTTW-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-piping-plover
Michigan communities have reached an inflection point. After decades of maintenance and managerial failures, water systems across the state have deteriorated to the point of crisis. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-michigan
Forty years after the goalpost set by the federal government under the Clean Water Act, Indiana couldn’t be farther from the finish line. Indiana maintains the most polluted waterways out of any state in the country. Of the 62,500 miles of rivers and streams in the state, more than 24,000 miles (38%) are impaired by pollutants. Read the full story by The Herald Bulletin.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-indiana
Electric Vehicle drivers will have more spots to charge up along Lake Michigan starting this summer. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says it will add 30 EV charging stations at state parks along the Lake Michigan shore, as part of an effort to create a network of chargers encircling the lake. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-electric
According to a Wisconsin study recently published in the Atmospheric Environment Journal, high fossil fuel emissions are traveling from coastal cities by lake breeze to areas surrounding Lake Michigan and creating concern for people with major health issues such as asthma. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220516-lake-breeze
Spring may have only just decided to arrive, but Adopt-a-Beach volunteers are already turning out in force. Nearly 1,000 volunteers have collected over 5,000 pounds of litter. And the numbers just keep growing as more data is reported.
See the progress towards our 2022 goal of half a million pounds.
“It’s been rainy and cold, sunny and beautiful. From lakes Ontario to Superior, volunteers showed up in all types of weather,” says Juliann Krupa, Volunteer Engagement Manager, Alliance for the Great Lakes. “So many committed individuals across the Great Lakes have joined together to keep our beaches clean and spread the word about plastic pollution. It’s truly inspiring. Thank you to all our spring volunteers and an advance thank you to everyone who comes out this summer!”
Read more about Adopt-a-Beach volunteers and the beaches they care for:
The post Adopt-a-Beach 2022: Off to a Strong Start appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.
News - Alliance for the Great Lakes
News - Alliance for the Great Lakes
https://greatlakes.org/2022/05/adopt-a-beach-2022-off-to-a-strong-start/
