LANSING – The
Department of Environmental Quality released its plan to improve water quality
and uses over the next 30 years, and is now seeking feedback to be sure the
plan accurately captures resident’s needs, Office of the Great Lakes Director
Jon Allan said Tuesday.
Because
addressing water issues is a long-term agenda, Allan said the department
wants to be sure it is setting the right direction.
“The
other thing we want to listen for is who wants to participate and engage and
own what piece of the puzzle,” he said.
The plan has 61 recommendations broken into nine goals looking at
both the condition of the water itself and the ability to use it.
Allan
acknowledged the plan was longer term than most in state government, but he
said it was shorter than some would have liked.
A system
like the Great Lakes doesn’t respond in one- to two-year cycles,” he said.
“Western Lake Erie will not respond in a year.”
Cutting the
algal blooms in that lake is part of the goal of healthy and functional
ecosystems. In addition to developing a strategy to reduce the blooms overall
in the lakes, the plan calls for reducing phosphorus in Lake Erie by 40
percent.
In addition
to seeing fewer blooms, the plan uses self-reproducing lake trout and
rehabilitation of lake sturgeon as some of its measures.
The plan
does not focus solely on surface waters.
“Managing
and measuring groundwater is something we need to get better at,” he said.
“We’ve kind of taken groundwater for granted for many years in the
state.”
Part of the
effort on groundwater would be continued improvements to the groundwater
withdrawal assessment tool, Allan said.
Another key
element of the plan will be a long-term funding source for drinking water and
sewage systems.
“It’s
going to take a long time to build the resources,” Allan said.
“There’s no magic pool of money out there.”
An actual
proposal on how to fund those systems is probably a year away, he said.
“What we were struggling to figure out was how much money do we collect on
drinking water and wastewater,” he said.
That goal
also illustrates that the plan is not just about state actions, Allan said.
“We don’t want to suggest that state or federal government’s going to pay
for local infrastructure, but how does a fund move along (improvements),”
he said.
He said
green infrastructure efforts could be a place for local communities to lead.
The plan
also calls for expansion of the state’s water trail system.
The plan is
about both the environment and the economy, Allan said. Among the
recommendations is that local economic development plans all include
consideration for water resources.
To build on
the effort long term, the plan would call for educating Michigan students on
the issues by including “water literacy” in the state’s curriculum
standards.
Allan said
the plan would also result in a dashboard, though he warned some elements on
that would not change quickly.
The plan
began to get some of the desired comment Tuesday.
“By
putting in the effort to build this long-term strategy, the Snyder
administration has demonstrated a laudable commitment to protecting Michigan’s
unrivaled water resources,” Chris Kolb, Michigan Environmental Council
president, said in a statement. “The draft document is a comprehensive and
thoughtful review of threats to water quality and quantity, as well as
opportunities our water resources provide for economic development.”
Kolb praised
the plan to implement a water use advisory committee to oversee large water
withdrawals, but he urged the state to move more quickly on ending pollution
from septic tanks and on cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks.
Lisa
Wozniak, executive director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, also
praised the plan.
“We are
encouraged to see the governor prioritizing protections for the Great Lakes and
Michigan’s clean water. The vision released today is a strong step forward and
we look forward to seeing a more concrete plan of action to turn that vision
into reality for the Great Lakes State,” she said in a statement.
“Michiganders deserve access to clean drinking water and healthy rivers,
lakes and streams. The governor’s initial water strategy is an opportunity for
meaningful action to address the most serious threats facing our Great Lakes,
like the toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie that led to contaminated drinking
water and closed beaches last summer.”
The DEQ is
accepting comments on the draft plan through August 28 at P.O. Box 30473-7973,
Lansing, MI, 48909; (517) 335-4053 (fax); or [email protected].
