From the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel:

In the wake of a government news release that pointed a finger at humans for planting an Asian carp near Lake Michigan, facts are coming to light that indicate Illinois officials may have stretched their own science to sell a whopper of a fish tale.

When netting crews hunting for Asian carp above an electric barrier on the Chicago canal system in June pulled a three-foot long, 20-pound mature bighead carp from Lake Calumet – just six miles south of Lake Michigan – the question was: How did it get there?

If it swam on its own, that would spell trouble for Lake Michigan because it could indicate that the electric fish barrier about 35 miles downstream from the lake was not doing its job, and more fish had perhaps breached this last line of defense.

If it were determined that the fish got there with human help, then it could more easily be explained as an isolated find, and not evidence that additional steps should be taken on the canal system to protect the Great Lakes. Read more.

From the New York Times:

The Great Lakes are feeling the heat from climate change.

As the world’s largest freshwater system warms, it is poised to systematically alter life for local wildlife and the tribes that depend on it, according to regional experts. And the warming could also provide a glimpse of what is happening on a more global level, they say.

“The Great Lakes in a lot of ways have always been a canary in the coal mine,” Cameron Davis, the senior adviser to the U.S. EPA on the Great Lakes, said last week. “Not just for the region or this country, but for the rest of the world.”

And it seems the canary’s song is growing ever more halting.

Lake Superior, which is the largest, deepest and coldest of the five lakes, is serving as the “canary for the canary,” Davis said at a public meeting of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force last week, pointing to recent data trends.

Total ice cover on the lake has shrunk by about 20 percent over the past 37 years, he said. Though the change has made for longer, warmer summers, it’s a problem because ice is crucial for keeping water from evaporating and it regulates the natural cycles of the Great Lakes. Read more.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Great Lakes governors and mayors – including Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley – are banding together to explore big changes for the Chicago River to protect the world’s largest freshwater system.

Just three days after five Great Lakes attorneys general filed a lawsuit to force Chicago to plug the canal system to protect Lake Michigan from the advancing Asian carp, a coalition of regional leaders announced plans Thursday to embark on a $2 million study to determine just what it will take to get that job done.

The idea of damming the canals is considered anathema to the Chicago business community because of the impact it could have on the barge industry and the way wastewater flows in the Chicago area. But political leaders across the region are taking the idea seriously. Read more.

From Circle of Blue:

Last week the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the nation’s largest municipal water suppliers, announced that along with requiring its customers to use less water under mandatory conservation measures it also would hike up the price for water by 15 percent over the next two years.

The board of the Los Angeles-based water district, which supplies drinking water to nearly 19 million people in parts of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, anticipates a public push back.

Indeed as water sales have declined because of the recession and conservation, water utility boards all across the country have raised rates, prompting civic dismay. A growing number of raucous council meetings, street protests and petition drives in opposition to higher water prices have occurred in cities large and small–Detroit; San Diego; Joplin, Mo.; Prairie Township, Ohio.

In effect, in too many American cities to count, water consumers are dramatically reducing the amount they use only to be hit with higher water rates. Existing designs for deciding water rates are the culprits. A handful of cities are restructuring their billing systems to benefit conservation-minded consumers who deserve to be rewarded rather than penalized. Read more.

Leslie Dorworth, IISG aquatic ecology specialist has written several articles for Grist magazine about the Grand Calumet River. This one describes how things got so bad for this polluted waterway:

The Grand Calumet River is about 13 miles long and flows through one of the most industrialized areas in the United States. At one time, the river’s branches and tributaries flowed throughout northwest Indiana and supported globally unique fish and wildlife. Today, thanks to being moved and manipulated by humans over the years, the Calumet river system is one of the smallest watersheds in the region, and there are stretches of river that support nothing but sludge worms.

How did this happen? Two words: people and industry. Read more.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is proud to announce that the program has won two 2010 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence.

The Medicine Chest, a new curriculum collection addressing the problem of disposal of unwanted medicines, won in the category Green Materials. This award is shared by Robin Goettel, associate director for education, Terri Hallesy, education specialist, Susan White, graphic designer, and Tracy Colin, communication assistant. The Medicine Chest gives educators a tool to create service-learning experiences for their students, while tackling an important environmental and human health concern.

The second APEX award went to the display Get Rid of Stuff Sensibly in the category One-of-a-Kind Green Publications. Named in this award are White and Irene Miles, communication coordinator. This display informs audiences of all ages about how to recycle, reuse, or sensibly dispose of medicines, electronics, fish and aquatic plants and more. It includes a colorful marble game that provides a fun way to think through ‘getting rid of stuff.’ On display at the Illinois State Fair and other venues, Get Rid of Stuff Sensibly has thus far engaged 4,600 people on the issue of sensible disposal.

From the Great Lakes Echo:

The combined parking lots of four Great Lakes states take up nearly 500 square miles, according to recent estimates by Purdue University.

That’s enough pavement to cover 30 percent of Green Bay in Lake Michigan, 40 percent of Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron or twice the surface of Isle Royale in Lake Superior.

It also contributes to one of the biggest threats to Great Lakes water quality: Urban runoff. Read more.

From the Great Lakes Echo:

Echo recently took a look at the finalists for $161 million worth of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants, breaking them down by state and group type. Here we’ll check out two more metrics: Biggest winners and GLRI focus areas.

But first, remember that these numbers are still preliminary. Finalists have until the end of June to submit the last paperwork before they’re eligible for the awards.

Also, the totals don’t account for subcontracts within grants. For example, Michigan State University is in line for $3.3 million in grants that it won outright, but it could see more initiative funds from other grant winners who have partnered with the school. Read more.

From the Muskegon Chronicle:

A perfect storm of invasive species in Lake Michigan continues to clarify the water to historic levels and threaten the lake’s forage base from bottom and top, according to new reports from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

Analysis of current and historic data from Lake Michigan shows serious threats to sport fish brought on by quagga mussels, spiny water fleas and other invasive species that continue to thrive, although researchers remain uncertain how that will influence the lake’s future. Read more.