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Lead Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue
© 2023 Circle of Blue – all rights reserved
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FRESH, December 6, 2022: Report Urges Michigan Officials to Adopt Water-Affordability Plan for Low-Income Residents
/in Fresh/by Rachel DuckettDecember 6, 2022
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.
— Rachel Duckett, Interim Fresh Editor
This Week’s Watersheds
A project called Renew Harbor Island aims to clean polluted industrial sites on Grand Haven’s Harbor Island, which is surrounded by the Grand River, a Lake Michigan tributary.
Fresh from the Great Lakes News Collaborative
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader. We work together to produce 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.
Report Proposes Water Affordability for Low-Income Michigan Residents
A recent analysis of six Michigan communities released by activists and conservation groups urged officials to adopt a strategy to mitigate the state’s water-affordability crisis. An estimated one out of 10 households is unable to afford clean water. The report found that high water rates left families in unsafe conditions.
The study, which found some families paying 20 percent or more of their income for water, was sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center, We The People of Detroit and Freshwater Future.
In the News
LINE 5 PIPELINE: A federal judge ordered the energy giant Enbridge Inc. and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to come up with an emergency plan to prevent spills from a pipeline that runs across the tribe’s reservation. The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to remove a section of the 70-year-old pipeline in Wisconsin. The company agreed and plans to build a $450 million pipeline around the reservation.
Looking Ahead
SEWAGE AUDIT: After the city discovered sewage had been leaking into Hamilton Harbor for the past 26 years, Ontario’s environment minister said he ordered Hamilton to undergo a sewage infrastructure audit. The city will have to develop a plan to clean up the harbor, which is part of Lake Ontario.
ALGAL BLOOMS: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded $1.5 million in federal funding to support projects that aim to combat Great Lakes algal blooms. Recipients include the University of Toledo, University of Michigan Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, and Bowling Green State University.
Upcoming Events
December 5-7, 2022 – 2022 Virtual Great Lakes PFAS Summit– register
December 6, 2022 – EPA Great Lakes Advisory Board (GLAB) Virtual Public Meeting – register
December 6, 2022 – Reflections on Lake Ontario Water Quality Progress: IJC Public Input Webinar – register
December 8, 2022 – Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Nutrients Annex: 2022 Lake Erie Update – register
December 13, 2022 – Reflections on St. Lawrence River Water Quality Progress: IJC Public Input Webinar – register
Other News
Rachel joined the Circle of Blue team in 2022 as a Communications Associate. She also works as a contributor for Great Lakes Now, one of Circle of Blue’s partners in the Great Lakes News Collaborative. She studied broadcast journalism at the Michigan State University School of Journalism, where she interned for WKAR Public Media and worked as a copy-editor for the Spartan Medical Research Journal. In her free time, she enjoys watching scary movies, listening to podcasts, hiking, cooking and hanging out with her cat.