Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2005MI59B

Publicizing, Facilitating the Access, and the Interpretation of the Michigan Groundwater Inventory and Mapping Project with Outreach Education

Institute: Michigan
Year Established: 2005 Start Date: 2005-03-01 End Date: 2006-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $15,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $30,777

Principal Investigators: William Northcott, Pamela Hunt, Steve Miller

Project Summary: The state of Michigan recently enacted Public Acts 148 and 177, which focuses on water use. Public Act 148 outlines a strategy to assess the water resources of the State utilizing existing data. The second public act, 177, establishes the mechanism to resolve disputes among groundwater users and allows the government to intercede if large water withdrawals are threatening the water resource. Educational outreach is not a component that has been included in any of the legislative initiatives. The general public needs to be informed of the published map series as well as the end users. The value-data base compiled into a map series of hydrogeologic parameters will need to be comprehensible to the public and their respective policy makers at all levels of government to aid in the understanding of these map presentations as well implementing the strategies stated in Public Act 177. Also, an explanation of what the scope of use for the map series needs to be disseminated with an outreach educational goal of interpretation and the limits applied to each map. This year the legislature has proposed legislation to require the permitting and regulation of large water withdrawals entitled the Water Legacy Act. The proposed measures would fulfill part of the Great Lakes Charter, an agreement between the eight states and two Canadian provinces bordering the Great Lakes, by regulating bulk withdrawals from the Great Lakes, inland lakes, rivers, and aquifers. Michigan is the only partner in the charter that has not committed to legislation of regulating and limiting the large water withdrawals from the surface or ground water resources or preventing the diversion of the Great Lakes. The media coverage of the Great Lakes and ultimately our water resources are being debated throughout the state by various mediums including the opinion pages, newspaper articles, meetings and briefs sponsored by special interest groups and policy makers seeking scientific conclusions and constituents views. Michigan citizens and their legislators are a receptive audience to our proposed efforts to publicize, facilitate the access and to interpret the map series of the groundwater inventory.