LANSING – As part of the comprehensive "Great Waters, Great Michigan" package, State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) today voted for a package of bills that will protect the Great Lakes, Michigan's 11,000 inland lakes and streams and the good-paying jobs that they generate, maintaining Michigan's status as a top destination for boaters, anglers and other tourists.
"Here in West Michigan we know that water is a vital part of our economy," Valentine said. "Thousands of our jobs depend on Lake Michigan, and that's why we must ensure that our most precious natural resource is not exploited. By passing this plan, we have sent a clear message: Michigan's water is not for sale."
The parts of the "Great Waters, Great Michigan" plan that passed the House today 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.
- 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.
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 House plan provides much stronger protections for the Great Lakes and Michigan water than the plan passed by the Republican-controlled Senate.
"Other states and countries covet our water, and we have to stand up to them," Valentine said. "Anywhere you go in Michigan, you are never more than six miles away from a lake or stream. Michigan water belongs right here in Michigan – it is part of our state's history and its heritage."