Living Near Lakes: Reason 1972 to #ProtectCleanWater

By Evan Kreager, Michigan Energy Program Intern It was in college that I was first introduced to the concept of a watershed. For those who don’t know, a watershed is a basin from which all sources of water, both above and below land, are linked by their common course of drainage. Honestly, until I was about 20 years old I’d never even heard the word. But like many things, once a person is aware of an idea, it becomes difficult to escape it. I grew up living next to lakes: Campbell Lake, Gull Lake, and Lake Michigan. I’ve always loved being on the water, and as I grow older I have become increasingly aware of how lucky I’ve been. It wasn’t until I learned what a watershed was that I could really begin to understand the importance of our water – how every body of water, no matter how large or small, is connected within one giant ecological community. Humor me. Google “Great Lakes Basin.” Click the images tab. What you will find are images just like any other map of the Great Lakes area, only surrounded by a boundary line that you may have never seen before. Every source of water within this boundary will eventually find its way into the Great Lakes. A few days ago I was canvassing door to door for the Campaign to Protect Clean Water. I spent a lot of time talking to people about how we are fighting to restore Clean Water Act safeguards to small streams and wetlands across the country.  This means protecting the sources of drinking water for 1 in 3 of us and ensuring that small businesses that rely on clean water aren’t faced with polluted and destroyed streams and wetlands. A lot of people told me that they believed what asking them to do wouldn’t have an impact on the water they use, or that their water system was somehow safer than others. I even heard from someone that they “like dirty water.” Luckily these people were in the minority. Most people I spoke with got it and wanted to join the campaign. This is important because we can’t put this issue on the backburner. This is happening right here, right now. All of our waters are connected in one way or another, and we need to ensure that all of those waters are protected. Those of us who live in Michigan are all lucky – we are never more than a few hours away from a lake, we have the third longest coastline in the U.S., and we are in the center of one of the largest fresh water basins in the world. But this is just one state, one region in the whole country. Let’s not strive to protect a portion of our water, let us strive to protect all of it.