From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle. Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Posted inAbout Great Lakes Now, Drinking Water, Featured, Forever Chemicals Featured, Indiana, Industry, Latest News, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, News, Ohio, Pennsylvania, PFAS, PFAS News Roundup, Policy, Politics, Region, Water Quality, Who We Are and What We Do, Wisconsin
PFAS News Roundup: Michigan works on transparency, 3M could cost the Minnesota public billions, study recruitment in Michigan
Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Posted inCulture, Enbridge Line 5 and Other Pipelines, Equity and Environmental Justice, Great Lakes News Collaborative, Indigenous Communities, Industry, Latest News, Michigan, News, Ontario, Politics, Region, Tribal Governments and First Nations, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments
Michigan tribes to Biden: Enbridge Line 5 threatens our treaty rights
As Canada leans on an international treaty to keep oil flowing through Line 5, Michigan Native American tribal leaders want the Biden administration to acknowledge that the pipeline’s fate affects their treaty rights, too.
Posted inCulture, Indigenous Communities, Invasive Species, Latest News, News, Recreation and Tourism, Science, Technology & Research
A record number of mussel-fouled watercraft have been intercepted at state inspection stations this summer
It’s been kind of a half empty, half full aquatic invasive species (AIS) inspection effort this summer in Montana. There has been less watercraft inspected but a record number of mussel-fouled watercraft discovered. That’s not good but the fact that inspectors found them is good.
Posted inLatest News, News, Policy, Politics, U.S. and Canadian Federal Governments
Will taxpayers bear the cost of cleaning up America’s abandoned oil wells?
Oil and gas companies have a century-old bad habit of drilling wells and ditching them. And while Congress finally has a plan to plug some abandoned wells, new proposals effectively pass the fossil fuel industry’s cleanup costs on to taxpayers and may even enable more drilling.
Posted inClimate, Culture, Equity and Environmental Justice, Indigenous Communities, Latest News, News, Politics, Science, Technology & Research
Indigenous leaders face barriers to UN climate conference
Indigenous leaders are largely being excluded from participation in the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference as the world grapples with escalating problems from floods, fires, heat, drought and other disasters.
Posted inDrinking Water, Equity and Environmental Justice, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, News, PFAS, Politics, Region, Water Quality, Wisconsin
‘Something has to be done’: Living along Madison’s Starkweather Creek, one of Wisconsin’s most polluted waterways.
In 2019, Wisconsin’s Starkweather Creek contained higher levels of PFOA and PFOS — two more scrutinized types of PFAS — than any other waters the Department of Natural Resources tested that year. At the creek’s Fair Oaks Avenue crossing, the DNR detected levels of PFOS at 270 parts per trillion and PFOA at 43 ppt.
Posted inDrinking Water, Equity and Environmental Justice, Great Lakes News Collaborative, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, Lead, News, Politics, Water Quality
In Benton Harbor, residents’ complaints of lead-tainted water carry echoes
Dangerously high lead levels have appeared in water tests in this low-income, majority Black community since 2018. Residents and activists say they fear the problem dates back longer, with Flint’s crisis as a backdrop.
Posted inAbout Great Lakes Now, Drinking Water, Equity and Environmental Justice, Featured, Flint, Groundwater Contamination, Latest News, Lead, Michigan, News, Politics, Region, Water Quality, Who We Are and What We Do
Q&A: Doctor who exposed Flint’s lead levels sees similarities in Benton Harbor water crisis
Great Lakes Now talked to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha about lead, Flint and Benton Harbor.
Posted inIndiana, Lake Michigan, Latest News, News, Region
Missed Acid Delivery at Root of Midwest Plant Iron Discharge: US Steel Correspondence
In a document sent to the state, U.S. Steel Corp. said a chain of events kicked off by a missed acid delivery to its Midwest Plant in Portage led to a large discharge of iron into a nearby waterway in late September.
