The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal, newsrooms working together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

latest from the collaborative

Collaborative Investigations

The Blue Economy

This multi-part series revisits a vision set forth a decade ago by Great Lakes leaders to reshape the region’s economy around the stewardship of its most vital asset—water. Through original reporting across the Great Lakes basin, the GLNC newsrooms assess the current state of the “blue economy” and how it has evolved over the past ten years.

From fisheries and heavy industry to waterfront tourism and the rise of water-hungry data centers, the series explores the complex and sometimes conflicting demands on the region’s freshwater resources. What does the balance—or imbalance—between use, access, preservation, and pollution mean for the region’s economic future? And what can be learned from the past to ensure that the blue economy supports both prosperity and sustainability?

Are Data Centers a Threat to the Great Lakes?

One of the poorest cities in Michigan has a proposed $3 billion data center as a potential lifeline — but environmentalists and locals warn of high costs to water, climate and community.
Read more here

The checkup: Water and Human Health in a changing climate

This is a series of articles and broadcasts on water, climate change, and human health in the Great Lakes region. Produced by the five partners of the Great Lakes News Collaborative — Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now, Michigan Public, and The Narwhal — the stories connect planetary change to personal health. At its core, the series is about unexpected outcomes and foreseeable threats to the welfare of the region’s people due to global warming and the disruption of its water. These changes – from drying forests and warming waters to rising heat and the spread of disease – will force the region’s elected officials, health professionals, engineers, researchers, and neighborhoods to rethink business as usual.

Refresh: What comes next for great lakes clean water

Refresh investigates water pollution challenges in the Great Lakes region, explores the Clean Water Act’s shortcomings and how the region can better address water pollution.

water’s true cost:

Throughout the Great Lakes region and across the U.S., water systems are aging. In some communities, this means water bills that residents can’t afford or water that’s unsafe to drink. It means that vulnerable systems are even more at risk in a changing climate. From shrinking cities and small towns to the comparatively thriving suburbs, the true cost of water has been deferred for decades.

Ready or Not

The Great Lakes region is frequently touted as one of the most climate-resilient places in the U.S., in no small part because of its enviable water resources. But climate change also threatens water quality, availability, and aging water infrastructure by exposing existing vulnerabilities and creating new ones. In this series, members of the Great Lakes News Collaborative explored what it may take to prepare the Great Lakes region for the future climatologists say we can expect.