A Great Lakes News Collaborative series on the relationship between the region’s economy and its most abundant natural resource: water.

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?