Understanding Water Resource Priorities in Southeast Michigan

Last week we kicked off a new SEMCOG Task Force – the Water Resources Task Force – which is charged with updating the Water Resources Plan for Southeast Michigan. We welcomed one of our largest task forces to date with participants from our membership (both elected officials and staff), nonprofit organizations, state agencies, academia, and other technical experts.

One of the key questions we asked the task force was…

What are the priority topics to include in this plan?

As was when we first started water resource planning, it was infrastructure – stormwater, drinking water and sanitary infrastructure – that came out as a high priority. In order to dive deeper into these topics and gather additional input, look for specialty forums on these topics over the next year or so.

A new high-priority topic was institutional arrangements which continues to show, that after 40 years of water resource work, we realize how much we need to collaborate in order to make significant progress.

Another new issue that was barely mentioned in earlier plans, is the importance of recreation and the link of water resources to economic development, now often called the blue economy. Our first specialty forum, scheduled for May 20, focuses on this priority topic. Register for the Water Resource Forum: Recreation, Blue Economy and Tourism here.

This word cloud illustrates the most frequent responses to our priority topics question.