Michigan to expand clean water plan by $290 million to support statewide water infrastructure upgrades

(UI) – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced a $290 million expansion of the MI Clean Water Plan, utilizing existing authority from the 2002 Great Lakes Water Quality Protection Bond.

According to a statement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer , these resources will help communities across the state ensure safer, cleaner, and more affordable drinking water and water management resources for their residents through an expansion of the state’s low-interest loan offerings.

The financing supports critical water infrastructure projects like lead service line removals, rehabilitation and upgrades to drinking water and wastewater plants, improvements to sewer systems, and much more. The money will be split between the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and will be available through loans and low interest financing this year.

Since January 2019, the State of Michigan has invested more than $4 billion to upgrade drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater facilities across the state.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, EGLE provided historic financing and funding opportunities to communities, but was still only able to fund $1.7 billion of the over $5 billion in community requests. 

This funding shortfall will continue in FY 2025, when the department received over $3.5 billion in project requests from communities but expects to have less than $720 million available after exhausting significant one-time federal resources.

Most of the state’s water systems are over 50 years old, and a significant portion are approaching 100 years of service life. Recent reports have highlighted that Michigan has an annual gap of between $860 million to $1.1 billion in water infrastructure needs due to decades of deferred maintenance.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for every $1 million invested in water infrastructure, 15 jobs are created, and studies have shown a $6 return for every dollar invested in water infrastructure. 

“I have heard from local elected officials and community leaders from every corner of the state about the urgent need to replace aging water and sewer infrastructure,” said Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing). “Whether that means preparing our drains to handle record rainfall or swapping out lead service lines to guarantee clean drinking water for everyone, the need is clearly there. Expanding the MI Clean Water Plan will help more communities access the resources they need to provide for their residents right now, while we continue working toward sustainable policy and funding solutions to these water infrastructure problems.” 

“Plumbers know that high-quality water infrastructure is critical to keeping families safe,” said Price Dobernick, President of the Michigan Pipe Trades Association. “We support today’s $290 million investment that will create and support good-paying, union jobs for our brothers and sisters while ensuring Michiganders have access to clean drinking water. We are grateful to Governor Whitmer for prioritizing water infrastructure—a total of $4 billion since she took office, supporting 57,000 jobs—and will keep rolling up our sleeves to fix pipes, replace sewers, and handle everything in between.”

Additional water infrastructure actions include:

• Invested over $4 billion through the MI Clean Water Plan, supporting over 57,000 jobs, helping communities remove lead service lines, reduce toxic contaminants like PFAS, rehabilitate water plants, rebuild sewers, and so much more.
• Established health-based standards for PFAS and the strongest Lead and Copper Rule for drinking water in the country.
• Signed a bipartisan legislation to help communities access funding for water infrastructure and ensure the communities in most need receive support.
• Signed bipartisan legislation to ensure children in schools and childcare centers have access to clean drinking water.
• Signed an executive directive to improve drinking water protections.

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