Congressman Sander Levin

Protecting Lake St. Clair

Lake St. Clair is an irreplaceable natural resource that provides drinking water, fishing and recreation to millions every year. I am working actively to protect and restore Lake St. Clair and its watershed.

Over the last ten years, a great deal of progress has been to address longstanding environmental damage to Lake St. Clair. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested to upgrade sewer infrastructure to correct the chronic problem of combined sewer overflows into the Lake. Illicit drain connections that dump raw sewage into rivers and streams feeding into Lake St. Clair are being tracked down and repaired.

A key federal program called the Clean Water Revolving Fund Program has provided localities with hundreds of millions of dollars in low-cost loans to improve the watershed’s water infrastructure that keeps sewage from spilling into the Lake. As a direct result of these and other efforts, the number of beach closings on Lake St. Clair has dramatically declined.

We need to build on these efforts. In early 2009, Congress approved an Economic Recovery package that included funding to assist states and localities build and repair water infrastructure. Michigan’s share totaled $168 million. Two of the priority projects that Michigan has announced will provide $4.8 million to correct sanitary sewer overflow problems affecting the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair. This is an excellent use of the economic recovery funds. It will create jobs and keep millions of gallons of sewage from fouling the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair.

In 1999, Congress directed the Corps of Engineers to create a comprehensive management plan for Lake St. Clair. The plan was completed in 2005 and contains more than 100 recommendations to protect and restore Lake St. Clair. These recommendations will help shape Lake St. Clair’s future, but only if they are carried out. At my request, Congress approved funding in 2009 to begin to implement the Lake St. Clair management plan. This will be an ongoing effort in the years ahead.

(Updated June 19, 2009)