The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition applauds the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for convening today's hearing on restoration efforts in the Great Lakes region.

By cleaning up their most degraded areas, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Buffalo have created thriving lakeshore business districts, helped people reconnect with nature, and laid the groundwork for population growth into the future. Learn more about how they’re contributing to the Great Lakes region’s “blue economy.”

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is deeply concerned by the federal budget proposal released today for its sweeping, reckless cuts to the agencies and programs that protect the Great Lakes, enforce clean water laws, and safeguard the drinking water of more than 30 million Americans across the region.

eat Lakes Coalition to urge members of Congress to continue their support for federal investments to protect the drinking water, public health, jobs, and quality of life for the millions of people in the eight-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

Materials from Great Lakes Day 2026

For communities across Wisconsin, access to safe, clean, affordable drinking water is a persistent concern. Lead service lines, aging water infrastructure, and harmful contaminates like nitrates are among the many factors that necessitate extensive—and expensive—repairs to drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems throughout the state. Two federal-state partnerships—the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) are integral to provide financial support for these necessary updates.

In a lab at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), in Rochester, New York, dozens of plastic bins of cigarette butts, food wrappers, bottle caps, one-shot liquor bottles, and other trash are stacked neatly on shelves, waiting to be sorted and categorized. This debris décor comes from litter-catching mesh devices called LittaTraps™, which have been installed in storm drains across Rochester to intercept garbage otherwise destined for Lake Ontario.

In groundwater sources across Wisconsin, an invisible pollutant is degrading aquatic ecosystems, threatening human health, and costing local communities millions of dollars. This chemical, known as nitrate, is the most widespread groundwater contaminant in Wisconsin, and it can cause serious problems. According to a new report, nitrate pollution has climbed steadily since 2013, affecting both municipal drinking water systems and private wells.