Reports

Turning the Tide is Turning Headlines Around the Region

Earlier this week, the Healing Our Waters Coalition released a report detailing the sewage crisis that the Great Lakes are facing due to our region’s antiquated sewer infrastructure. The Coalition held release events in five Great Lakes cities to announce the findings of the report, Turning the Tide: Invest in Wastewater Infrastructure to Create Jobs and Solve the Sewage Crisis in the Great Lakes and promote recommendations that would create jobs while making the Great Lakes healthy once more. The report calls on Congress to fund storm and waste water infrastructure improvement projects by investing $2.7 billion in the federal Read More » »

Congress Needs to Step up Funding for Sewage Crisis, Report Says

The Healing Our Waters Campaign is calling on Congress to increase their investment in wastewater infrastructure in an effort to restore the Great Lakes and create tens of thousands of jobs in our region. This afternoon in five historic Great Lakes cities HOW released a report: Turning the Tide: Invest in Wastewater Infrastructure to Create Jobs and Solve the Sewage Crisis in the Great Lakes.

Nearly 200 communities on the US side of the lakes have antiquated combined sewer systems (CSO) that when overloaded from rain or snow untreated sewage is sent into our lakes…and our drinking water. This forces Read More » »

New Report: Solving Region’s Sewage Crisis Will Create Jobs, Restore Great Lakes

Reversing federal wastewater infrastructure deficit, investing in “green” solutions key to tackling sewage overflows—serious public health threat

Failure to Address $23 Billion Backlog Could Hamper Restoration Efforts

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (Aug. 9, 2010) —The Great Lakes are under siege from sewage pollution, four decades after Congress passed the federal Clean Water Act, according to a new report from the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. (Click here to download the report.)

According to the report, “Turning the Tide: Investing in Wastewater Infrastructure to Create Jobs and Solve the Sewage Crisis in the Great Lakes,” communities that rely on the Great Lakes for Read More » »

The State of the Lakes: Still a Bummer

A new report by the US and Canadian Environmental Agencies finds that the Great Lakes ecosystem continues on a rapid decline due to toxic pollution and invasive species and poor sewage management. And don’t forget, all this is happening within the context of climate change – ARGH!

“State of the Great Lakes 2009,” released by the U.S. EPA and Environment Canada, says the overall health of the Great Lakes ecosystem as “mixed” and that means the lakes are still degrading but there is some good news: The prevention of toxic pollution has improved. While that is great, the slow Read More » »

Invasive Species Take a Bite Out of State Wallets

The insidious little creatures that stowaway aboard Salties ballast water and are drained into the Great Lakes fresh water are costing the US side a whopping $200 million annually (and that is a conservative estimate), according to the preliminary results of an economic impact report on the subject.

Since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to ocean going vessels in the late 1950s it hasn’t only been the ecological landscape of the lakes that has suffered. Consumers have lost millions in economic benefits that would have been derived from sport and commercial fisheries, wildlife watching and raw water users, researchers find.

“The Read More » »

The Day after Tomorrow: The Great Lakes in Crisis

Close your eyes and think of the worst disaster movie you’ve ever seen, OK, do you have it set in your mind’s eye? The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is releasing a report that shows the expected impacts of global warming on the Great Lakes – nearly 95 percent of this nation’s fresh surface water – are much more devastating than anything you could have imagined.

Great Lakes Restoration and the Threat of Global Warming makes it clear that the Great Lakes are poised to reach an irrevocable crisis Read More » »

Climate Change and Water Diversion Won’t Leave Much “Great” in the Lakes

We’ve all heard that climate change will only exacerbate lower lake levels and lengthening shore lines in the Great Lakes over the coming years. These are serious threats that, unfortunately, are not too shocking for those of us who have watched as the ice that once reached near to Canada continues to retreat each year and as water temperatures rise, allowing kids to start swimming in the lakes earlier each summer. Climate Change and Great Lakes Water Resources, a new report prepared for the National Wildlife Federation confirms our observations. But what is most interesting about Read More » »

Study Finds Great Lakes National Parks Neglected

Neglect can be added to the list of problems plaguing the Great Lakes region. Nearsighted federal policy that has steered dollars away from one of our nation’s greatest resources has left crumbling lighthouses, empty trout nets and retreating dunes in the wake, according to a recent study by a national park advocacy group.

Environmental problems, such as air pollution and invasive species in the Great Lakes are have an equally dangerous effect on six national parks studied by the National Parks Conservation Association. For example, 20 percent Read More » »

$50 Billion in Economic Benefit Hinge on Restoration of Great Lakes

Cost to restore and protect the Great Lakes: $26 Billion.

Cost of creating sustainable economic growth and reviving the industrial heartland of America: Priceless.

It has been called the Rust Belt since the early ‘70s when the once thriving Great Lakes region – a producer of steel, metal and automobiles that attracted workers from around the world – fell victim to globalization and then the information economy. Factories and mills closed and crestfallen populations of workers migrated away in search of jobs. But leading economists are releasing a report today showing that investing in the Great Read More » »

Reports detailing the state of health of the Great Lakes

In the following posts, you will find a collection of reports detailing the state of health of the Great Lakes.  If you know of another you feel should be listed here, just leave us a note via the comments.