Five Fixes for Michigan's Drinking Water Woes

Michigan communities have reached an inflection point.

The state's water challenges are immense. The solutions to these problems are not so clear-cut.

To the relief of utility leaders, some financial help is coming. Congress passed two big, pandemic-related funding packages — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan Act — that will funnel tens of billions of dollars into water infrastructure nationwide. 

But even that investment is inadequate compared to the problem. And experts say Michigan needs deeper 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. Without the changes, maintenance backlogs will grow anew.

So how can Michigan break the bust-to-bailout cycle? State and national experts point to five key solutions. 

What's Up With Water — May 17, 2022

For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud.

Featured coverage from this week's episode of What's Up With Water looks at:

• Water scarcity, water pollution, and extreme weather are eroding the value of mines and power plants that rely on water. That’s according to a new report on how banks, investors, and insurance companies are exposed to water-related financial risks.
• In the United States, a severe drought prompted California officials to encourage residents to save water. Residents did the opposite.

Power Through the Adirondack Park 

This story is re-published with the permission of Adirondack Explorer, where it was originally published.

The large boats will prowl Lake Champlain all day and all night for five months. Barges up to 300 feet long and 90 feet across will carry 12 miles of spooled electrical cable, navigation equipment, a tall crane and a specialized crew. They will drop the cable 4 feet deep in their wake and cover 2 miles a day. The underwater installation will stir up sediment, displace bottom-dwelling creatures and alter the lake’s ecology.

Then the boats will be gone.

“I call it a one-time disturbance,” said Tim Mihuc, a professor of environmental science at SUNY Plattsburgh.

The extraordinary activity will leave behind a hidden thread of power delivering a near-constant flow of energy from manmade reservoirs in Quebec and Labrador to Queens, effectively an Adirondack Park-sized battery projected to provide about one-fifth of New York City’s massive electricity needs in the coming decades. Construction may start in a few months and the cable could be laid in 2024 as part of a major transmission line called the Champlain Hudson Power Express.

An ultralight glides along the shores of Lake Michigan. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue

Michigan’s Climate-Ready Future: Wetland Parks, Less Cement, Roomy Shores

As climate change alters our world, Michigan’s bounty of fresh water — if managed smartly — could be the foundation of a thriving state economy and superior quality of life.

Last year, the collaborative’s reporting, in a series called “Ready or Not,” found that, in many cases, the coordinated, long-range preparation for climate change has not been done. 

The state still suffers from water pollution, for instance, in some cases with little power to punish those responsible. Our failure to prepare the state’s aging infrastructure for climate change has worsened flooding and imperiled water supplies. 

But how might Michigan’s future look if we get it right?

Bridge Michigan and Circle of Blue interviewed experts in agriculture, water policy, climate adaptation, local government and business, asking them to envision what a climate-prepared Michigan might look like, and what it will take to get there.