Busy Great Laker: Charlie Bristol

I just had a great conversation with Charlie Bristol, an engineer who does work with a lot of groups in southeast Michigan. An interesting problem he and the groups he works with face is that the water in the Lake St. Clair and the rivers are nice and blue - people don't think they need cleaning up.

He explained to me that even though the water looks nice, harmful runoff and sediments from dredging settle on the bottom and work their way through the system, even though isn't visible on the surface. Even more education than usual has to happen in cases like these.

Anyway, we talked about all sorts of great ideas he's implemented with groups in Michigan, which will be available on video as soon as possible - our internet connection here is pretty cranky.

In the meantime, he made sure to tell folks in southeast Michigan to check out detroitriver.org to find out what you can do to help.

Big News: Great Lakes cities spend $15 billion on restoration - where's Washington?

A New York Times article this morning has a story on a new report, detailing the amount of money Great Lakes cities and local governments are spending to protect and restore the Great Lakes - more than 15 billion dollars annually.

The report points out that the federal government's role pales in comparison - approximately $350 million annually, according to Jordan Lubkin, communications director for the Healing Our Waters coaltion.

Given that the Great Lakes comprise one-fifth of the world's fresh water and are critical to the region's economy both in terms of jobs and quality of life, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which released the report, believes that the federal government can and should do much more.

Great Lakes municiple leaders believe that the federal government needs to step up to the plate and help local governments maintain adequate sewage facilities, fight toxic pollution and ward off invasive species, among other problems.

"Municipalities in both the U.S. and Canada are spending billions of dollars on stewardship, protection, cleanup, to reduce and prevent pollution, and to buy and protect shorelines. Local government is pulling its weight and more. But federal funding has not kept pace," said James Ulich, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.