Great Lakes Watershed Map
On Friday, August 28, the public comment period on a proposed state-wide water strategy to guide Michigan through 2045 will close. Please continue reading for details about how you can participate in this process, even at this late date.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ARE DUE BY AUGUST 28 to: Mi-waterstrategy@michigan.gov
From the DEQ webpage announcing the release of this draft, along with parameters of the public comment period:
In November 2012, Governor Rick Snyder in his Special Message on Energy and Environment called upon the Office of the Great Lakes to lead the development of a comprehensive water strategy that takes an ecosystem approach, enhances our economic opportunities around water and strengthens connection to place. The Michigan Office of the Great Lakes has released the draft Water Strategy that provides a roadmap to achieve a 30 year vision to ensure Michigan’s water resources support healthy ecosystems, citizens, communities, and economies....
The draft Water Strategy, “Sustaining Michigan Water Heritage, A Strategy for the Next Generation," [complete PDF here] places Michigan on the path to achieving this vision in a way that builds economic capacity while sustaining the ecological integrity of the resource and ensures that water resources are protected, valued and cared for by present and future generations. It is designed to protect, manage and enhance Michigan's water resources for the benefit of current and future generations.
The Draft strategy was developed through an extensive engagement process that involved a wide array of individuals, communities, organizations, academia, businesses, industries and tribal and local governments across the state. Hundreds of people provided input through regional, community, and individual conversations, a series of presentations, and describing their desires for the future of Michigan’s water resources. The draft Water Strategy reflects the predominant themes heard throughout the public engagement process in its goals, outcomes and recommendations.
Please feel free to read this extensive report, which does address some of the ways in which water is vital to our state. The first eight pages--the introduction and Table 1, which provides a summary of the goals for nine areas identified as relevant for consideration--are a helpful summary of the whole. But of course, some of the details of the process, as well as what is omitted or understated, are only clearly evident when one reads the entire document.
Please join me after the orange waterfall for a few of the highlights/lowlights of the draft policy, through which I offer some suggestions to consider for your own comment.
EDIT: I would be remiss if I did not thank my friend, Tom S., a stalwart water activist who in his spare time somehow manages to keep many of us updated about the crucial issues confronting Detroit, and the valiant people who are waging peace there and throughout the state. Thanks, Tom, for your years of dedication.
The report opens with these words:
Water defines Michigan. It is deeply rooted in the state’s culture, heritage and economy.
With more than 11,000 inland lakes, 76,000 miles of rivers, 6.5 million acres of wetlands and more than 3,200 miles of freshwater coastline―the longest in the world―leveraging the power and presence of this treasured natural resource and ensuring its long-term sustainability are critical to advancing Michigan’s prosperity.
It does indeed. Note for our purposes the statement at the top that "leveraging" this resource is "critical [for our state's] prosperity." There's an important choice of words, to use "leveraging" instead of
protecting, and "prosperity" instead of
well-being. Please keep those distinctions in mind.
Before I provide some detail about the nine major sections of the draft policy, I'd like to offer some context and framing to consider.
The "water wars" have already arrived in Michigan. Last year's protests over water shutoffs to poor and struggling residents of Detroit and Highland Park drew international attention. Many of you will recall the intervention attempted by the United Nations' Office of Human Rights last year, when the scandal of the mass shutoffs first broke into general awareness.
Protest Banner in Flint at the end of Water Justice Journey, July 2015
Catarina de Albuquerque, a special rapporteur to the U.N. on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation,
declared at that juncture that
Detroit’s water shutoffs amount to a violation of basic human rights that falls heaviest on poor and African-Americans.
De Albuquerque says the city’s plan to help people pay their delinquent water bills falls short.
“We are of the view that such initiatives are insufficient to insure affordability of water and sanitation and adequate housing,” says De Albuquerque.
She adds that Detroit’s bankruptcy is no excuse for failing to provide the water people need to drink, prepare food, and for basic hygiene.
“The fact that the city is in such a situation doesn’t exempt it from human rights obligations,” says De Albuquerque.
Since then, the situation in Detroit and other Michigan cities has worsened. The shutoffs continue, and the mayor of Detroit has refused to consider implementing the Water Affordability Plan that was first proposed in the city ten years ago--even though the vaunted "Water Assistance Plan" has failed miserably.
If the United Nations does not have enough moral cachet, there's another institution that's been heard from recently, on this same topic.
According to the recent encyclical promulgated by Pope Francis, Laudato Si':
[p. 23]
¶ 30. Even as the quality of available water is constantly diminishing, in some places there is a growing tendency, despite its scarcity, to privatize this resource, turning it into a commodity subject to the laws of the market. Yet access to safe drinkable
water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack
[p. 24]
access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity. This debt can be paid partly by an increase in funding to provide clean water and sanitary services among the poor. But water continues
to be wasted, not only in the developed world but also in developing countries which possess it in abundance. This shows that the problem of water is partly an educational and cultural issue, since there is little awareness of the seriousness of such behaviour within a context of great inequality. [emphasis in original]
Or, more directly:
Speaking in Detroit on May 22, 2014, leading global water rights activist Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians said “If we pay attention to what’s really happening with our water, and deal with it appropriately, it will show us how to solve all our other problems.” (quotation cited in personal correspondence from an audience member)
We don't have much time to get it right. If this document is supposed to serve as a framework for conduct by Michigan state agencies, tribal entities, municipal organizations, non-profits, private corporations, individual citizens, and the huge network of state, regional, national and international laws, treaties, policies, and programs that impact water use in Michigan over the next thirty years--then it had better have some serious anchoring in the reality of the problems we face now as well as those we can anticipate.
Below, you will read the nine areas of action around which this policy statement is organized, stated on from pages 3 and 4 of the draft policy. The original text is blockquoted, with a note providing the source pages. My editorial comments follow, in italics, each section of this annotated list--although extensive quotations from other sources are in regular text, not italics.
[1.] Protect and Restore Aquatic Ecosystems – Michigan needs more integrated, holistic approaches to managing water on and across the landscape, including groundwater, which support healthy ecological systems and hydrologic integrity at the watershed scale. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 1, on pages 10-18 of the document as internally paginated]
Several important issues are raised here: the problems posed by invasive species, agricultural pollution, unprocessed sewage and stormwater runoff, and the like. Are the proposed remedies sufficient and specific enough to address them in a timely way? There is no explicit discussion of the threat posed by the Asian Carp, which appears to lurk just outside the Great Lakes watershed proper. Is there too much controversy involved in confronting that current problem head-on, rather than leaving it to current organizations and agreements to address, however imperfectly and belatedly?
In addition, there is no specific mention of the need to protect the integrity of Great Lakes/St. Lawrence watershed, including of course the waters of the lakes themselves, as addressed in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact enacted in 2008. It's a live issue right now--see this report in today's New York Times about the efforts by Waukesha, WI to subvert it--and given the severe pressures on water in other parts of the country, these issues will remain vital for the foreseeable future.
[2.] Ensure Clean and Safe Waters – Michigan needs to protect and restore water quality to ensure ecosystem function and support current and future human uses of Michigan’s surface and groundwater resources. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 2, on pages 20-25 of the document as internally paginated]
Here, the primary concerns mentioned are the protection of clean drinking water and the cleanup of previously contaminated water and lake/riverbeds. Again, while the specific subjects addressed are important, the omissions are also worthy of attention. Currently, people dependent on the water supplied by the new Flint processing system are being exposed to numerous toxic agents in their drinking water, a situation exacerbated by an aging water delivery infrastructure and the lack of resources dedicated to upgrading it. How long will the residents of Flint have to wait for clean and safe water?
Hard to Swallow from Kate Levy on Vimeo.
Even more crucially, because the potential for harm is so very great: there is no mention anywhere in this section of the need to PREVENT MORE PIPELINE BREAKS. The most concerning pipeline in the state, Enbridge's 62-year-old Line 5 traversing the Straits of Mackinac, presents a clear and urgent threat to the cleanliness, safety, and ecological integrity of at least two of the Great Lakes--and there is NO plan for proactive prevention of the damage a break could cause, WHEN not IF the pipeline breaks. (See an upcoming diary soon with more specific information about this issue.)
Monarch near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Michigan: Less than 100 miles from Line 5.
[3.] Create Vibrant Waterfronts – Michigan needs an emphasis on water resources as assets in state, regional and community planning efforts to create vibrant and sustainable communities, a robust recreation and tourism industry, and a thriving environment and economy. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 3, on pages 27-30 of the document as internally paginated]
View of Detroit River and Ambassador Bridge from Riverwalk near Ren Cen
It is true, as the draft states, that historically the waterfronts throughout the state were considered primarily in terms of their economic value. The legacy that we must address now is summarized here:
Historically, Michigan’s waterfronts supported industries such as shipbuilding, power production, lumber yards, tanneries and chemical production. Many communities developed commercial centers with their backs to the water. As industries abandoned the waterfront, many became eyesores and the public’s connection to water as a community asset was lost. [p. 27 of draft document]
However, it seems crucial to maintain as much PUBLIC ACCESS and OWNERSHIP of waterfront areas as possible even while the monetary value of such property is increasing. Closing off the commons is not the best way to "create vibrant waterfronts" for the benefit of all the people; it secures access only for those who can afford to pay. It is good to see in the next chapter, which deals with Water-Based Recreation, a goal of ensuring widely-dispersed public access to the Great Lakes shoreline and many inland lakes and rivers as well. Will public money be sought to purchase and maintain such access? Will public access be curtailed by limits presented via user and admission fees?
Oddly, this section mentions the importance of promoting commercial ports, without making the connection to the first chapter's goals related to protecting the Great Lakes from invasive species. Effective management of the threats posed by ballast water dumped in the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence--which seems to have been the means by which zebra mussels were introduced here--needs an upgrade above what is already in place, even though it will require action many hundreds of miles away from Michigan to work.
[4.] Support Water-Based Recreation – Michigan needs to create greater opportunity for access to water resources through water trails and appropriate public access. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 4, on pages 31-33 of the document as internally paginated]
Under this point, I'd like to offer a passage from a lovely essay by Bill Wylie-Kellerman, a white Methodist minister and community activist in Detroit, that addresses some essential considerations about water and access to it:
Remember that access to water figured into the Civil Rights struggle. Don’t just picture “white” and “colored” over separate drinking fountains, think about public pools. The freedom struggle song, “If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus…” has another verse that goes, “If you miss me at the swimmin’ hole and you can’t find me nowhere, come on over to the City Pool, I’ll be swimmin’ right there…”
Now, picture water access on the Michigan coastline which has been black majority or safe home spaces for African Americans. Last year at a beach in Port Sanilac, up in the thumb, we had to complain to the DNR folks about small swastikas marked into the parking curb by the breakwater. If they hadn’t been removed, we’d have done it ourselves, but that’s about claiming “white space” where black folks are unwelcome, openly threatened, at risk.
One safe common place has been the waterfront in Benton Harbor, a black majority city on Lake Michigan with the lowest per capita income in the state. Jean Klock Park was given to the city for a park “in perpetuity.” But as Whirlpool and the developers in St. Joseph coveted the entire lake and river front, it became highly contested. Twenty two acres of wooded land at the center of the park were appropriated for three holes of a Jack Nicklaus golf course connected with a condominium village called Harbor Shores. Like virtually every other black city in Michigan, Benton Harbor is under Emergency Management.
View of Detroit skyline from Belle Isle
Wylie-Kellerman's essay is centered on the history and future of Belle Isle, the marvelous island park in the middle of the Detroit River. The whole essay is worth reading, and the question it raises is of fundamental importance: For whose benefit will public access be protected? What formal and informal barriers will be created to keep out the poor and people of color? Are our beaches and streams destined to be playgrounds for the wealthy alone?
[5.] Promote Water-Based Economies – Michigan needs to collectively build robust multisector and multidisciplinary public-private partnerships between business, industry, academia, private capital and government. These partnerships will link ideation, invention and innovation, research and development, capital investment and end users. This approach will bring technologies to the market to better manage and solve water challenges in Michigan and across the globe. Directed research and development to address specific water challenges should provide the basis for forming a new paradigm of collaboration. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 5, on pages 35-40 of the document as internally paginated]
I will add more commentary as I am able to do so.
[6.] Invest in Water Infrastructure – Greater and consistent investments are needed in water-related infrastructure improvements to address aging and deteriorating systems that are now causing water quality issues and public health concerns. The people of Michigan also need to better recognize the connection between investments in water infrastructure systems and the benefits it provides, including delivery of safe drinking water, management of stormwater and wastewater, enhanced recreational opportunities, and healthy ecosystems and economies. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 6, on pages 42-46 of the document as internally paginated]
The narrative in this chapter is, in the most charitable assessment, bizarre; in the least generous, duplicitous and disingenuous.
Several sentences are devoted to a characterization of Michigan's water as a "free, shared resource"--only to say oops, not so fast: the infrastructure costs, and we have to pay for that. Except then the observation is made that indeed, there are choices made relative to the assessment of those costs; entities that consume more water pay proportionately less for it!
Here are the paragraphs in question:
Most people think of their monthly water bill as the cost they pay for water. But in reality, water, as a natural resource, is actually free for any purpose and for any amount used by any entity, public or private, as long as its use does not degrade the resource. Water is free to those who want water to drink, to businesses that use it in industrial processes, to those that bottle it for consumption and to homeowners who water their lawn. The economic value of water is nearly infinite, but for Michiganders it is a free, shared resource to use for all kinds of human purposes. [emphasis added] While water as a resource may be free, there are costs associated with managing Michigan’s water resources to ensure that water is of high quality and available for human uses.
Through their water bills, Michiganders instead pay for the infrastructure to deliver safe drinking water and carry away and treat waste, and for the operating costs, like energy, to treat and condition water and maintain infrastructure. Those outside the area of a municipal water supply system pay for well construction, treatment if necessary, the pump and the energy used to supply water to the tap. In addition, the cost of infrastructure to supply water is contained in the final price of all commodities and services.
Water’s cost is determined by volume-based pricing that allows the collection of revenues to pay for infrastructure and operations used to deliver water. Under this scenario, there is often a lower per unit, usually gallons, fee on water for higher volume users and amounts. Water rates are commonly skewed in such a way that users pay less as volumes rise, because the price is pegged to infrastructure costs and not to the value of water itself. [emphasis added]
There are deliberate and intentional choices made in the design of water rates and assessments. There is no abstract absolute standard about what water costs, only the political decisions made by those in control. Consequently, decisions could also be made to implement a Water Affordability Plan to ensure that the human rights of all people to safe, clean water for drinking and sanitation are protected. It remains, again, a question of political will not feasibility.
[7.] Monitor Water Quality – Michigan needs to develop and fund a coordinated, long-term monitoring strategy to provide baseline and trend information about surface and groundwater quality and quantity. This information is necessary to base decisions and best direct actions and future investments to support healthy people, ecosystems, communities and economies. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 7, on pages 48-50 of the document as internally paginated]
Even little Lake St. Clair is huge.
I will add more as I am able. But it is worth noting, as does the report, that far too much unprocessed water--sewage and storm runoff both, including untreated agricultural runoff--enters the lakes, often rendering them unsafe to drink or to swim in.
[8.] Build Governance Tools – Michigan needs to build new models of governance at the local and regional level to address increasingly complex and intractable problems facing Michigan’s water resources. Implementation efforts will require not just state agencies, but a wide array of individuals, organizations, businesses, industries and tribal and local governments across the state to continue to build on this multi-stakeholder collaborative approach. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 8, on pages 52-54 of the document as internally paginated]
NEW INFO:
Excuse me for shouting a minute here, but WHO ARE WE KIDDING? To "Build Governance Tools" we should PROTECT VOTERS' RIGHTS TO SELF-GOVERNANCE! Ay yay yay. Let's start by eliminating all the Emergency Managers and the other programs that eviscerate democracy. After all, we DID VOTE TO END THE PRACTICE before the MI Legislature decided to OVERRULE THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
Such hypocrisy is breathtaking.
One brief comment here, largely process-based. Pages 100-129 of the report describe the sixteen "Community Water Dialogues" that were held throughout the state in early 2014. Participation was by invitation only, and the sites were allegedly chosen to represent a variety of types of communities relative to the characteristics of the water. The closest site to Detroit was in Dearborn, and eleven people participated. On the face of it, that process seems tailor-made to exclude points of view that might raise uncomfortable questions for the overall project.
[9.] Inspire Stewardship for Clean Water – Most importantly, Michigan residents need greater opportunities to learn about water. Michigan is surrounded by 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water, and with that comes a deep ethical obligation to be good and thoughtful stewards of this global treasure. A shared water ethic will guide Michigan into the future and ensure our children and future generations will have the same or better quality of life than we have today. The durability of this Strategy and ensuring the health of our water resources for generations to come depends on creating a culture of stewardship through lifelong education about water. [Addressed in detail in Chapter 9, on pages 56-57 of the document as internally paginated]
Lake Huron, near Alpena.
Let's be good stewards now and speak up about what this long-range policy really ought to be addressing.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ARE DUE BY AUGUST 28 to: Mi-waterstrategy@michigan.gov
This is ALSO AN OPEN THREAD! Thanks for being here tonight.