water crises in Flint, Mich., and Toledo,. Ohio, illustrate the critical need to safeguard drinking water sources and mo
Great Lakes restoration projects create JOBS, advance local ECONOMIES, sustain RECREATION and ensure DRINKING WATER for millions of Americans.
Support Great Lakes restoration today. Provide $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Fund urgent drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs. Defend core Great Lakes programs at EPA and other agencies.
Provide $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The Great Lakes provide drinking water for 30 million Americans in the eight-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Our jobs and our way of life are connected to the lakes, which is why their protection and restoration is so critical. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is producing results for people and communities in the region. Thanks to the initiative, dams have been removed, opening up stream miles that haven’t seen fish for decades. Federal dollars have allowed
communities to remove toxic sediment from their shores, bringing neighborhoods back to their riverfronts. These projects: • Sustain recreational use of the Great Lakes including
hunting, fishing, boating, hiking, and bird-watching, while protecting fish and wildlife habitat. • Create good jobs and strengthen the economic health of local communities. • Produce at least $2 of economic benefit to local communities for every $1 investment.
There’s more work left to do. Great Lakes restoration
work benefits from strong infrastructure investment in the region, ensuring that as we take one step forward we aren’t taking two steps back. Our work will not be finished until beach closures and fish consumption advisories are a thing of the past, until all the region’s people have access to affordable, clean, and safe drinking water. Delaying restoration work will only get more costly the longer we wait.
Fund urgent drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs. The nation faces a water infrastructure crisis that communities in the Great Lakes region feel acutely. The drinking water crises in Flint, Mich., and Toledo, Ohio, illustrate the critical need to safeguard drinking water sources and modernize the region’s drinking water systems. Sewage contamination and polluted stormwater in the Great Lakes and its tributaries are stark reminders of the inadequate wastewater systems in both urban and rural communities. The result: swimming and fishing spots are now closed to local residents, busi-
nesses, and tourists all while the health of people and wildlife is put at risk. Thankfully, there are solutions. It’s time for the nation to invest in infrastructure that protects our health and fuels our communities and businesses. Over the next 20 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, $192 billion is needed to repair and replace parts of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. These expensive projects
Defend core Great Lakes programs at EPA and other agencies. The GLRI is built on a foundation of other programs and laws that ensure restoration investments in the Great Lakes produce results. Federal agencies and departments — like the U.S. Environ mental Protection Agency, Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — are helping people bring back their rivers; igniting enthusiasm for fishing, boating, and swimming in riverfront communities around the region; and sparking economic investments across the Great Lakes. The successes in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin impact the quality of life we enjoy in the Great Lakes region, which would not be possible without the strong partnership with the federal government. We have more work to do before the Great Lakes are restored. It is a mistake to cut the core programs that make restoration investments possible. Thousands of projects across the basin are preventing sewage overflows, cleaning up toxic sediments, stopping the spread of invasive species and preventing pollution from running off farm fields and city streets into our waterways.
are critically needed in communities around the region, which is why investing in federal programs that help offset the cost of these repairs is so important. For FY2018, Congress should increase federal funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs, as well as the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program. These three programs help communities of all sizes afford urgently needed infrastructure repairs. Clean water must be affordable and available to everyone. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition encourages grants or low interest loans to be prioritized to communities with the biggest gap between their infrastructure needs and their ability to raise funds, or repay funds, from local sources. The Coalition also would like to see infrastructure investments be energy efficient and naturebased – where wetlands, parks, forests and other natural features help achieve water quality goals.
Rolling back clean water protections and defunding federal programs undermines the restoration results we are seeing in the Great Lakes while also weakening the partnership the federal government has with the region. Congress must support the foundation of laws and programs upon which our restoration efforts are built.
THE HEALING OUR WATERS–GREAT LAKES COALITION
We are more than 145 local and national organizations representing the interests of business, agriculture, and outdoor recreation; local counties, cities, towns, and neighborhoods; and the environment, zoos, aquariums, and museums.
Our shared goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes for all people.
See where Great Lakes restoration funds have been invested since 2009. Read about the positive impacts that Great Lakes restoration projects have had on local communities and businesses. Watch videos about those projects. All can be discovered at healthylakes.org.
CONTACT US. WE’RE HERE TO HELP. TODD AMBS
CHAD LORD
Campaign Director 608-692-9974
[email protected]
Policy Director 202-454-3385
[email protected]
JENNIFER HILL
CELIA HAVEN
Assistant Campaign Director 248-825-5746
[email protected]
Program Coordinator 734-887-7123
[email protected]
JORDAN LUBETKIN
Communications Coordinator 734-887-7105
[email protected]
Communications Director 734-887-7109
[email protected]
ANNA BRUNNER
Photo credits: (cover) Brenda Elmore, Adam Alexander Photography, Kari Lydersen, iStockPhoto/Marilyn Nieves; (page 2) Michigan Technological University, iStockPhoto/Clagge, National Park Service; (page 3) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Charlie Archambault, iStockPhoto/iofoto, Jason Lindsey, Ottawa County Parks & Recreation Department; (back cover) Dave Kenyon, Donna Kert.
