The General Assembly of SEMCOG, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, voted to adopt Water Infrastructure Policies and Actions for Southeast Michigan at its General Assembly meeting in Detroit last month. SEMCOG also launched its Water Infrastructure Planning Guide.

“The regional effort to create theWater Infrastructure Planning Guide and Water Infrastructure Policies and Actions is a model of teamwork at its finest,” said Jim Nash, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner and Water Infrastructure Task Force Co-Chairperson. “The resources created will facilitate regional water infrastructure collaboration for years to come,” said Nash.

The policies, actions, and planning guide are the products of the Water Infrastructure Task Force for Southeast Michigan. The Task Force also sought input from workgroups focused on drinking water, wastewater, funding, and stormwater.

“The Water Infrastructure Task Force workgroups were very much aligned, regardless of community, in identifying and prioritizing policies and practices that reinforce our need to build resilient systems that integrate traditional and natural infrastructures,” said Palencia Mobley, Michigan Infrastructure Council Voting Member and Water Infrastructure Task Force Co-Chairperson.

Read the complete Water Infrastructure Policies and Actions for Southeast Michigan.

Under the leadership of Co-Chairs Nash and Mobley, the Water Infrastructure Task Force convened over 80 members of government, business, and nonprofit organizations to assess the current condition and future resiliency of Southeast Michigan's system and the short and long-term actions needed.

In addition to its regular meetings, the task force engaged additional focused workgroups, pushing total participation to over 100 regional water infrastructure experts and stakeholders. The outcome of this effort is an addendum to the 2018 Water Resources Plan for Southeast Michigan.

"As an organization that has served as a connector across the region and amongst the Water Sector and our infrastructure partners since our inception, GLWA applauds SEMCOG for their convening of the Water Infrastructure Task Force," said Suzanne Coffey, Chief Executive Officer, Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA). "GLWA stands in support of their work to not only raise awareness of the critical need for investment in this unseen infrastructure, but also their efforts to develop policies and actionable strategies to help build resiliency across the region," Coffey said.

The following policies, as adopted, articulate the timely need for action along with specific opportunities to address each:

• Public Education:Attain a greater public awareness and mutual shared responsibility of water resources.
• Data and Asset Management:
  • Enhance local agency opportunities to adopt sustainable and proactive asset management approaches that support economic, social, and environmental priorities.
  • Achieve greater public health and environmental benefits through data-driven and integrated adaptive approaches for water infrastructure priorities at the local and regional level.
• Legislative and Regulatory Reform:Protect public health and environmental quality through a science-based regulatory framework at the State and local levels that supports flexible, alternative compliance approaches.
• Infrastructure Coordination: Enhance coordination of infrastructure projects across public and private sectors to ensure strategic and efficient investment of resources.
• Funding and Financing: Achieve fiscally sustainable and reliable quality infrastructure through consistent funding and financing mechanisms that support the long-term, real costs of services.

"SEMCOG is grateful to our regional water infrastructure team for all the participation and support during this process," said Amy O'Leary, Executive Director of SEMCOG. "We are especially excited about the potential of these policies and actions to support the regional priorities of equity, resilience, and workforce," said O'Leary.

The Water Infrastructure Planning Guide presents critical strategies to tackle the largest challenges associated with sustaining and improving our water infrastructure. Ase seen below, the policy guide features sections focused on each of the policies above as well as Drinking Water, Stormwater, Wastewater, Affordability and Equity, Climate Resilience, and Workforce.

Learn more about Water Resources in Southeast Michigan:

• Water Resources Plan for Southeast Michigan
• Water Infrastructure Policies and Actions
• Climate Resilience
• Water Infrastructure background and Task Force materials
• Southeast Michigan GREEN Initiative : Growing our Resilience, Equity, and Economy with Nature

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SEMCOG is a planning partnership of governmental units serving 4.8 million people in the seven-county region of Southeast Michigan striving to enhance the region's quality of life. Learn more about what SEMCOG does.