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Left Out to Dry: How Michigan Citizens Pay the Price for Unregulated Water Use 2005-09-10 leftouttodry.pdf

Executive Summary

Water use in Michigan is currently a free-for-all. Lack of effective laws allows large users to treat Michigan’s waterways and the Great Lakes like their own private wells, drawing off unlimited quantities of water without regard for how it will impact nearby waterways or other users. As a result, large water users are leaving residents without access to clean water, destroying fish and wildlife habitat, and diminishing the value of property.

Michigan’s legislators have introduced bills to address the problem, but partisan politics and pressure from large water users have thwarted legislative progress. As a result, large water users continue to exploit Michigan’s water supplies and Michigan citizens pay the price.

Five case studies of water supply abuse show the extent of the problem:

• Monroe and Washtenaw Counties’ Dry Decade: In the early 1990s, rock mining quarries in Monroe County increased extraction to more than 20 million gallons of ground water per day, drying up the wells of more than 2,000 homes in a 100 square mile area and costing residents millions of dollars.

• Nestlé’s Thirst Drains Waterways: Citizens in Mecosta County have spent close to $1 million and over four years entangled in a lawsuit with Nestlé, the world’s largest water bottling company. The company is bottling and selling hundreds of gallons of spring water each minute causing lake levels, streams, and wetlands to decline.

• Saginaw’s Water Blight: Increased irrigation by potato farms in Saginaw County has caused hundreds of wells to go dry during peak irrigation months since 1994, posing such a public health threat that the County Department of Public Health took legal action. Local citizens convinced their legislator to pass a law to help resolve conflicts between residents and farmers, but this law only takes affect after conflicts arise.

• Oakland Ponds Drained for Gravel: Owners of a gravel pit in Groveland Township increased their water use and lowered the water table to the point of drying up ponds, killing trees, and creating sinkholes on nearby residents’ property.

• Selling Public Water for Personal Gains: In Livingston County, a developer claimed the rights to groundwater and sold it to three local townships for $3 million—much more than the value of the land. The developer profited by selling a public good at public expense.

These are not isolated incidents. In fact, there are many other stories of this kind across Michigan. Unfortunately, there is nothing stopping other situations like these from occurring because we still do not have laws preventing irresponsible water use.

To protect our water for future generations, Michigan needs to pass comprehensive water use laws that will prevent adverse impacts to our waterways and natural resources, stop water from being diverted from the Great Lakes basin, require legislative approval for the private sale of water, make Michigan a leader in water conservation, and require all water users to report their use to the state.