Protecting Michigan’s Waters: Infrastructure for the Future
There are currently many threats to our water here in Michigan. Most of these threats have been looming for years, but action on them has been pushed off, as our legislature procrastinates and ignores the problems instead of taking the hard steps that action requires.
Michigan’s Outdated and Dangerous Combined Sewer Systems
The biggest problem with combined systems is that during rainfall events the water flow often exceeds the systems' capacity.
Michigan’s Aging Septic Systems
While E. coli is commonly talked about in reference to combined sewer overflows and large-scale agricultural operations, there is another major source of E. coli in our water that every state in the country other than Michigan have worked to eliminate — leaking and failing septic systems.
Solutions to Stormwater Runoff
Stormwater runoff is the single largest contributor of non-point source pollution to Michigan’s waterways.