Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
On Saturday, November 8, 2025, Downtown Traverse City will host its annual Shop Your Community Day, a cherished event where 15% of every purchase at participating local businesses is donated to your choice of 30 nonprofit organizations. This initiative offers shoppers the unique opportunity to support both local businesses and meaningful causes, fostering a stronger,… Read more »
Flow’s mission is to ensure Michigan’s waters are healthy, public, and protected for everyone. Our priorities include water infrastructure funding, tackling nitrate contamination in drinking water, factory farm pollution, and the need for a statewide septic code. We track state budgets closely because they signal real-world priorities. The newly approved FY 2025-26 budgets for Michigan’s… Read more »
Carolan Sonderegger, Policy Director I attended the 2025 Great Lakes Conference expecting good content, but what stood out most wasn’t any single presentation or data point—it was the high level of collaboration happening across the region. Whether it was researchers, tribal leaders, farmers, nonprofit practitioners, or municipal officials, everyone was focused on the same core… Read more »
Lansing, Mich. – Governor Gretchen Whitmer has proclaimed October 22, 2025, as Great Lakes Public Trust Day, affirming the public trust principle, which holds that Michigan’s surface waters and submerged lands are held in trust by the state for the benefit and enjoyment of all Michiganders. Flow Water Advocates worked with the Governor’s office to… Read more »
Download this guide (PDF) Writing a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper is a great way to keep the Line 5 pipeline issue front and center, and educate our communities and elected officials about the threat Line 5 poses, and why we need to shut down Line 5. First, know your newspaper’s guidelines:… Read more »
Flow Water Advocates is delighted to announce that Mike Vickery has been elected by its Board of Directors to serve as chair for the 2025-26 term. Mike first joined the Flow board in March 2016, and previously served as board chair from 2019 to 2021. He is Professor Emeritus of Communication, Public Affairs, and Environmental… Read more »
Download Policy Brief (PDF) The problem. In Michigan, polluters have walked away from more than 26,000 contaminated sites — 13,000 of which are “orphaned” without a known responsible party — with groundwater and soil too polluted to use, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the $13 billion that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes,… Read more »
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2025 Lansing, Mich. – The Michigan Supreme Court has granted a landmark application for leave to appeal, paving the way for a review of the Michigan Public Service Commission’s (MPSC) decision to approve a permit for Enbridge’s proposed oil pipeline tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac. This order, issued on… Read more »
The Great Lakes are the lifeblood of North America, holding nearly one-fifth of the world’s surface freshwater and supplying drinking water to 40 million people. A new report from the International Joint Commission (IJC), its second Draft 10-Year Report on the Protection of the Waters of the Great Lakes, highlights progress as well as new… Read more »
PRESS RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 9, 2025 Download the written comments to EGLE (PDF) Traverse City, Mich. – On August 29, 2025, Flow Water Advocates, a Great Lakes water protection organization, together with the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation, submitted written comments on Enbridge’s application for a Water Resources Permit for its proposed Line 5 tunnel project… Read more »
