Congressman Sander Levin

Restoring Lake St. Clair

In November of 2007, Congress overrode President Bush's veto and approved the Water Resources Development Act [H.R. 1495]. This legislation includes a provision I requested that calls for up to $20 million to allow the Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the state of Michigan and local government, to implement restoration projects contained in comprehensive management plan for Lake St. Clair.

Inclusion of the Lake St. Clair restoration language in the Water Resources Development Act is an important first step in the process of obtaining the funding. Looking forward, Michigan lawmakers must now convince the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to provide the funding for the Lake St. Clair restoration projects.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lake St. Clair slipped beneath a lot of people's radars. By the mid-1990s, it became clear that the environmental quality and economic value of the Lake was imperiled by faulty sewage and septic systems, combined sewer over-flows, toxic contamination, invasive species, beach closings, and other problems.

Since then, Lake St. Clair has made a comeback. Over the last ten years, the number of beach closings on Lake St. Clair has dramatically declined. The chronic problem of combined sewer overflows into the Lake are being addressed. Illicit drain connections that dump raw sewage into Lake St. Clair are being tracked down and repaired.

In 1999, Congress directed the Army Corps of Engineers to create a comprehensive management plan for Lake St. Clair. The plan was completed in 2005, and a committee of local stakeholders has been working to implement the more than 100 recommendations contained in the management plan. These recommendations will help shape Lake St. Clair's future, but only if they are implemented.