Other - built environment
June 30, 2017
Post-industrial communities in the Great Lakes region, such as Detroit and Flint in Michigan, or Gary, Indiana and Buffalo, New York, face infrastructure investment and re-investment needs that out-weigh available resources. These former population centers are challenged to deliver municipal services, such as safe, fresh water, to populations that are both smaller and more spread-out than the ones for which their water systems were designed. They face similar storm water management challenges that result in flooding and untreated sewage discharges to local receiving waters and the Great Lakes. These communities need to “right size” their services, that is re-create them in order to match both the populations they serve and the available resources.
The University of Michigan Water Center will work with campus partners to convene regional academic and practitioner experts to address the three related municipal water resource issues of 1) water treatment and distribution; 2) wastewater management and treatment; and 3) stormwater management. The project team will include colleagues from the College of Engineering and from Emerging Issues in the Graham Sustainability Institute; in addition we will identify appropriate partners at U-M Flint and other regional universities. We will develop a package of technically reviewed materials addressing the most important concerns/issues identified by municipal decision-makers. The package will include a list of findings and recommendations related to technologies that have been deployed, or could be deployed, and relevant technical, policy/regulatory, public health and financing considerations in deployment, as well as a list of relevant regional scholars and practitioners in this area.