LANSING – State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) today voted to pass the final pieces of the "Great Waters, Great Michigan" plan, a comprehensive package that will protect the Great Lakes and other Michigan waters from diversion and misuse. All 10 pieces of the "Great Waters, Great Michigan" plan have now been passed by the House and are awaiting action in the Senate.
"For as long as Michigan has existed, water has been a vital part of our economy," Valentine said. "This is a major victory for the people of West Michigan and the rest of Great Lakes State, and something I've been fighting for from day one. As we fight to create good-paying jobs now, this plan will protect our most precious natural and economic resource for generations to come."
The parts of the "Great Waters, Great Michigan" plan that passed today will:
- Protect the Great Lakes by requiring a permit for new water withdrawals of over 2 million gallons per day. The current threshold for a permit is 5 million gallons.
- Require the use of a water withdrawal assessment tool for new large-scale water withdrawals, to determine if the withdrawal will harm our natural resources.
- Ensure that large-scale water withdrawals will not harm other water users, including recreational users, or natural resources before they are allowed to proceed.
- Affirm that all waters of the state are public resources to be managed in the public interest.
Other parts of the package passed by the House last week will effectively ban the diversion of water outside the Great Lakes basin by ratifying the Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact; toughen water bottling standards by lowering the threshold that triggers an environmental review of withdrawals from 250,000 gallons per day to 200,000 gallons per day; and raise the fines for water-use violations from a maximum of $5,000 per day to $10,000 per day.
The plan also will allow local governments to request a review from the Department of Environmental Quality if they feel a water withdrawal may harm other water users; promote water conservation practices by large-quantity water users, such as municipalities and utilities; establish a Water Conservation Advisory Council that will make recommendations to ensure sound water policies are enacted in Michigan; and protect Michigan's unique and popular trout streams by preventing withdrawals that would cause more than a 1 percent reduction in the stream's thriving fish population.
The House plan provides much stronger protections for the Great Lakes and Michigan water than the plan passed by the Senate.
"Protecting our water is vital to protecting Michigan's future," Valentine said. "I urge my colleagues in the Senate to help safeguard our most precious natural resource for future generations and take action on this important plan. By working together, we can make sure Michigan remains the Great Lakes State."