The Great Lakes Commission is making available a series of resources to assist municipalities in meeting the financial and ecological challenges of managing water services. The resources include information on the benefits of integrated water management and green infrastructure; guidebooks, reports and fact sheets for municipal decisionmakers; an interactive Green Infrastructure Optimization Tool; and videos highlighting the challenges of providing water services and how green infrastructure and water conservation can help.

The resources were completed as part of a 3-year initiative to examine the ecological and financial costs and benefits for pursuing water conservation and green infrastructure practices.  Known as Greater Lakes, the project confirmed what is already well-known among many environmentally-minded citizens and professionals: traditional water supply, sewage, and stormwater management systems create physical and institutional barriers that fracture the natural water cycle. Physical barriers prevent water from cycling naturally, resulting in flooding, sanitary and storm sewer overflows and risks to human health and property. Institutional barriers manage drinking, storm, and waste water as separate systems in separate departments or agencies—each with its own plans and budgets. This approach has negative environmental impacts and creates financial burdens for governments, taxpayers, and utility users. Many municipalities are taking steps to repair the fractured water system and these experiences provide a basis for sharing the knowledge learned with others.

Greater Lakes looked at how six Great Lakes municipalities are addressing water management issues, with a goal of helping other communities in the Great Lakes basin learn from their experiences.  Three of those communicates are in Oakland County, Michigan, and three are in the Grand River watershed in Ontario. Lessons learned from these six municipalities demonstrate how green infrastructure and water conservation and efficiency can overcome physical and institutional barriers and heal the fractured water cycle. Key to overcoming these barriers is an integrated approach that treats all our water services – water supply and wastewater and stormwater management – as part of the one hydrologic cycle; as one water. These lessons learned are featured on the Greater Lakes website, where individuals can learn through videos, fact sheets and reports about the benefits of integrated water management.

“Communities across the region face serious challenges meeting the drinking water and stormwater needs of their residents and businesses,” said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission. “Studies have shown that the U.S. will need at least $384 billion in infrastructure investments over the next 20 years. Our Greater Lakes project will help municipalities maintain or improve their water infrastructure by providing resources for decision-makers on how a more integrated approach can benefit their bottom line – ecologically, socially, and financially.”

Also featured on the Greater Lakes website is a green infrastructure optimization tool to help municipal decision-makers evaluate green infrastructure options for their community. The numerous products from this project join a growing body of tools, web sites and documents designed to help communities shift toward more sustainable water management. Greater Lakes adds value by sharing the experiences of communities in the same regional geography and bringing those lessons to other municipalities across the Great Lakes basin.

The Greater Lakes project was led by the Great Lakes Commission with funding from the Great Lakes Protection Fund in partnership with the Alliance for Water Efficiency (AWE), Environmental Consulting & Technology Inc. (ECT), and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative (GLSLCI). More information is available at https://www.glc.org/projects/water-resources/greater-lakes/