Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
By Carrie La Seur, Legal Director — The late afternoon sun, hours from sunset as the days stretch out, promises the first true warmth of spring. It’s 5 p.m. on April 25, 2025, and I nestle into the snug seat of my red, white, and blue Jackson river kayak. The Alma impoundment, usually a green,… Read more »
June 17, 2025 Traverse City, Mich. – Flow Water Advocates today announced the filing of a Petition for Review (PDF) with the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), challenging the recent approval and modification of six Underground Injection Control (UIC) permits for Michigan Potash Operating, LLC. Representing Michigan Citizens for Water… Read more »
Join Flow Water Advocates on August 27, 2026, from 6 to 9pm for “Sound & Shore”, an intimate and unforgettable evening of music, meaning, and movement at Rove Winery in Traverse City. May Erlewine — one of Michigan’s most powerful musical voices — will fill the air with songs that stir the soul, spark connection,… Read more »
We are sharing some very exciting news today! For Love of Water (FLOW) has a new name: Flow Water Advocates. (But you can still call us “Flow”). For nearly 14 years, our organization has worked relentlessly to protect the waters of the Great Lakes Basin and the people’s public trust rights to enjoy, use, navigate, and… Read more »
New bills would help clean up, prevent environmental contamination June 11, 2025 Polluter accountability legislation, including Senate Bills 385, 368, 387, 391, 392, and 393, was introduced this week by State Senators. Several of the bills have already been introduced in the House as HB 4636-4640, and the remaining bills will be introduced this week…. Read more »
Canadian pipeline company Enbridge wants to bore a massive fossil fuels tunnel through Straits of Mackinac. The proposed four mile tunnel would remove 364,000 cubic yards (or Download as PDF Facebook 27,000 dump truck loads) of earth and rock from the bottomlands of the Great Lakes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finds that the… Read more »
In April 2023, FLOW’s Dave Dempsey blogged about contamination at a quiet place called Sadony Bayou, north of White Lake along the Lake Michigan coastline, where lime piles and decades of industrial waste have decimated once-thriving habitat. The bayou doesn’t look like much from the road running by, but inside, it’s a struggling universe –… Read more »
A study recently published in the science journal Nature documents a worsening problem that is invisible to all but the closest observers. The study found that the 28 most populous U.S. cities – including Detroit and Chicago – are all slowly sinking. Massive groundwater extraction is the most common cause of the land movements, the… Read more »
Last week, Grand Traverse County took a major step forward in protecting its waters and residents by unanimously passing a countywide septic regulation. This landmark decision marks the first time the county has adopted rules to systematically evaluate septic systems near water bodies. While the regulation may appear modest in scope, its implications are profound…. Read more »
We are all enamored of the 38,000 square miles of Great Lakes water within the boundaries of Michigan, but few think of the 38,000 square miles of land at the bottom of the Great Lakes. This area, which the State of Michigan is legally required to protect under the public trust doctrine and the Great… Read more »
