water pollution

Drainage systems carry away excess water, but they also take fertilizers that can fuel harmful algal blooms. Researchers, companies, and farmers are deploying systems that can control that flow.

Surface and groundwater protection is covered under Part 31 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The Legislature prohibited the then-Department of Environmental Quality from making new rules under Part 31 after December 31, 2006.That is still the case.During the current lame duck session, the Legislature is considering bills would lift that ban on making rules for — what is today — the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).

Michigan and Ohio are both struggling to reduce the fertilizer runoff getting into Lake Erie which feeds cyanobacterial blooms, also called harmful algal blooms. Those toxic blooms can be hazardous to people and animals.

Prompted by persistent complaints of odor and contamination, regulators from the Ohio Agriculture Department and the state Environmental Protection Agency investigated earlier this year and cited nine farms for manure mismanagement, and issued fines to three farms for failing to secure proper operating permits.

The need for such research is urgent. Bacteria draining into recreational waters from overflowing wastewater treatment plants, livestock and poultry farms, and city streets and parking lots results in hundreds of beach closings annually across the five Great Lakes. Phosphorus running off farm fields and from big dairy, hog, and poultry operations causes harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie and other lakes across the region.

Michigan State’s Jason Rowntree is out to prove that ranching is an ecological asset.

Three southeast Michigan watershed councils combine resources to make it easier for residents and municipalities to reduce rainwater runoff.

In Canada, no rule or law prevents many unmonitored and invisible substances -or "contaminants of emerging concern"- from entering our water, including the Great Lakes.

The first ever federal rules limiting PFAS chemicals in drinking water, the Armenian diaspora in Michigan, and possible improvements to the state's 2016 Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act

Barring a late season snowstorm, Michigan expects to use 175,000 tons less salt than usual. That saves money and cuts down on salt pollution.