Clean Water in the Crosshairs

How infrastructure and funding issues threaten Michigan’s waterways

By Ren Brabenec | July 11, 2026

Human memories are short, and even though there are Americans alive today who were born when indoor plumbing was not widespread, most don’t pause to think about the miraculous innovations that make hot, clean, and affordable water pour from our taps on demand.

Water availability wasn’t always this easy, and experts warn that unless Michiganders take the lead on significant infrastructure improvements, our access to water and the quality of life it provides might look very different in the future.

Losing Clean Water Access

In 1995, marine biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly originated the “shifting baseline syndrome” theory. Also called the “Extinction Experience,” the theory describes how each new generation of Americans inherits an increasingly degraded environment but accepts it as normal because they lack the knowledge and awareness of how the ecosystem looked in the past.

The result? Without even knowing it, Americans exhibit increasingly lowered expectations for environmental protection and restoration, because they weren’t alive back when rivers and lakes teemed with fish, countless large mammals roamed our forests, and migratory birds swarmed the skies in the billions.

The same syndrome could be applied to Americans’ perception of water and the need for infrastructure improvements to keep those systems working as they should.

“We shouldn’t accept it as ‘normal’ to have boil water notices, dam failures, culvert collapses, flooded homes, failing lead pipes, and lack of access to clean, safe, and affordable drinking water,” says long-time environmental lawyer and Flow Water Advocates Executive Director Liz Kirkwood. (Kirkwood recently announced she will soon be stepping down as director and moving into a new role as Flow's strategic partnerships officer.)

“Residents must prioritize their water systems, and they have to take an active role in making sure their water infrastructure workforce is properly supported. We are at a tipping point, and our long-time ‘reactive crisis management’ approach to water issues is failing us. Water is a human right, and we must treat water, and the systems that support it, as such.”

Everything Comes Back to Infrastructure

According to Kirkwood, everything comes back to infrastructure, and how Michiganders will move forward given an increasingly unpredictable “pendulum swing” in terms of support (or lack thereof) from the federal government.

As previously reported in our sister publication, The Ticker, Flow Water Advocates is deeply concerned about the Trump Administration’s blueprint for the 2027 federal budget, which proposes steep funding cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was the largest historic investment in U.S. water infrastructure in a generation, with over $50 billion through the EPA to upgrade critical drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems nationwide with focuses on replacing lead service lines, tackling PFAS, and upgrading aging wastewater and stormwater management systems,” Kirkwood says.

“This administration aims to halt those investments and slash the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) by approximately 90 percent,” she continues. “That pendulum swing, from one administration seeking to fund infrastructure projects to another seeking to defund them, is not a sustainable model for Michigan water infrastructure.”

In May 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it plans to repeal federal restrictions on four PFAS (GenX, PFNA, PFBS, and PFHxS), also known as forever chemicals, in drinking water.

On the other side of the political coin, Kirkwood directs our attention to the Michigan Water Trust Fund Act, introduced in the State Senate in May.

“The Act (SB 950 & 951) would raise approximately $300 million annually by imposing a 25-cent per gallon royalty to be paid by bottled water companies that extract and sell Michigan’s public water resources,” Kirkwood explains.

The legislation does a lot, from defining the waters of the Great Lakes and their tributary rivers and streams as within the public domain to identifying often-neglected groundwater as “waters of the state.”

According to Kirkwood, the money raised by the legislation would be disseminated in the form of grants for the express purpose of addressing water-related infrastructure issues throughout the state, be it PFAS clean-up, improving aging water infrastructure, replacing lead pipes, mitigating contaminated well water, improving stormwater systems, and replacing failing septic systems.

Weather Events Challenge Michigan’s “Climate Refuge” Status

Those issues are becoming more of a problem with every passing year as it becomes clear Michigan is not immune to climate change.

Michiganders proudly tout the state’s status as a climate refuge, but Kirkwood says the science doesn’t back that up, and the many recent, uncommon weather events suggest Michigan must join the rest of the nation in preparing for unpredictable storm systems that will affect our waterways.

Kirkwood highlights spring flooding that wreaked havoc on water infrastructure across the state, leading to emergency declarations in 39 counties. Just to name a few examples, flooding led to a major transmission line rupturing in Auburn Hills, causing boil-water notices in Oakland County. Widespread flood surges compromised multiple dams across the state, including the failure of Buck’s Pond Dam and the near-failure of the Cheboygan Dam.

Heavy rains caused wastewater treatment overflows in Midland. An earthen dam collapsed in Alcona County. Culverts washed out across the state, roads collapsed, a levee was breached on the Little Black River, hundreds of homes across the state were inundated with water.

The final price tag for the devastation came to about $800 million, and counties across Michigan are seeking FEMA disaster relief.

“Infrastructure is not just an environmental issue—it’s a public health issue and an economic issue,” Kirkwood says. “If you don’t have a properly functioning water system, your community cannot function.”

Kirkwood adds that “Infrastructure is how we build our societies. We have to find ways to meld green infrastructure—like wetlands protected from development—with gray infrastructure—human-engineered pipes, concrete, and steel—in order to make systems that work for us.”

Infrastructure is Needed to Invite Economic Growth to Michigan

Investing in our water systems isn’t just good for the environment—it’s good for the economy too.

Kirkwood shares a quote from a March 24 press release with us. “Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the Michigan Strategic Fund Board (MSF) approved support for improving wastewater infrastructure to communities across Muskegon County, which is also advancing a significant investment by Chobani to expand La Colombe’s facility in Norton Shores,” Kirkwood reads. “With this investment, the company is expected to create 337 new jobs, retain 312 existing jobs, and invest up to $567 million in the area.”

While the press release is welcome news, Kirkwood warns that for every Chobani success story, Michigan is losing out on untold millions in economic activity by failing to invest in its water infrastructure in other parts of the state.

“Our water systems are just not ready for the companies that want to move to Michigan,” Kirkwood emphasizes. “When the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is negotiating with outside companies that are looking to set up shop in the state, MEDC doesn’t typically have the funds needed to fix whatever water infrastructure issues those companies are flagging as impediments to a deal.”

Finally, there is the need for the human workforce and knowledge base needed to design, implement, and maintain the improvements and upgrades needed for us to not just survive, but to thrive in Michigan’s changing “waterscape.”

“We’re calling it the Silver Tsunami,” Kirkwood says, “the fact that a huge percentage of the water workforce is now over the age of 55. Water systems are becoming digitized, which improves efficiency but also increases risk for cyber attacks on our water utilities. We need to incentivize young people to move into the water systems sectors, especially the big three: drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater.”

The Need for a Septic Code

When it comes to infrastructure, septic matters—big time. Michigan is the only state in the nation without a statewide septic code, and that lack of rules has resulted in over 100,000 failing systems. Even worse, close to 10 billion gallons of raw sewage are escaping into Michigan soil and waterways each year.

Referring to The Ticker’s reporting again, this is another area where federal infrastructure funding is crucial. The state of Michigan would like to use federal State Revolving Funds to set up a system for cataloging, monitoring, and improving septic systems. But if the current administration’s budget passes, SRFs will be gutted, and Michigan won’t have the funding needed to improve septic infrastructure, even as 75 percent of Michiganders support a statewide septic code.

Here, too, state legislators are stepping up to the plate. In January, State Sen. Sam Singh (D-28) introduced legislation that would require septic inspections, enforce compliance with septic system improvements, and provide assistance to low-income homeowners with inspection and repair costs.

Kirkwood is encouraging residents across Michigan to call their elected officials and ask them to support The Michigan Water Trust Fund Act and the Septic Standards Legislation (SB 771).