Filter Options

  • Select from the filter options above,
    or search projects by keyword below.
  • For more information on the results of these projects, please contact the project manager or project website identified for each grant.

Value of Great Lakes Water Initiative

Timeline 2009 - 2012
Project Number 921
Award Amount $ 167,000
Team Leader Victoria Pebbles and Rebecca Pearson | Tel: 734-665-9135 | vpebbles@glc.org | bpearson@glc.org
Organization Great Lakes Commission
Team Makeup Academic (3), Government (6), Non-Profit (5), Corporation (2), Private (0)
Governors' Priorities Sustainable use and enhanced value
Project Website http://www.glc.org/wateruse/watervalue/

This team examined how efficiency-oriented pricing could be employed in the Great Lakes region and how it could be linked to water management issues such as availability for human use and ecosystem impacts. The team explored cost drivers and revenue models for water utilities, identified those areas in the basin where reduced usage is likely to matter the most from a natural resource perspective, and explored the role of pricing in meeting ecological outcomes.

This project advanced the knowledge of how and why water rates are set in the Great Lakes region and brought experts together from around the region. The project resulted in a number of important products (links can be found below under Project Files):

  • A literature review of the influence of water revenue structures on water use.
  • List of the most vulnerable watersheds in the basin based on water availability and hydrologic and ecosystem sensitivities.
  • Four successful utility rate workshops in Racine, WI; Ann Arbor, MI; Buffalo, NY; and Chicago, IL.
  • A Water Pricing Primer for the Great Lakes region.
  • A report titled, Water Utility Rate Survey – Findings and Recommendations, (prepared from the team’s survey of Great Lakes utilities).
  • A report documenting the work the team accomplished titled, Value of Great Lakes Water Initiative: Final Report.

The team found that while there is strong interest in efficiency-oriented rate structures, fear of revenue loss discourages adoption. Using the lessons learned from the project, the team developed recommendations to promote better pricing of water that would address economic concerns and lead to more ecologically sustainable consumption patterns.
 



Project Files

 

Print PDF

Related Projects

  • Improving Water Management in the Great Lakes Basin - Phase II
  • 2012 - Present
  • A team led by Great Lakes United will work with communities in the U.S. and Canada to identify and test the ecological and financial rationales for pursuing water conservation and green infrastructure practices, and pilot how this information can drive better water management throughout the Great Lakes region.

  • The Great Lakes Clean Communities Network
  • 2012 - Present
  • A team led by Michigan State University will create a regional, collaborative, network of practitioners for large-scale stormwater management that will be supported and organized by a web-facilitated, interactive community.

  • Vacant to Vibrant: Vacant Land as Green Infrastructure
  • 2012 - Present
  • A team led by the Cleveland Botanic Garden will establish a neighborhood-based network of vacant small-parcel green infrastructure projects to test the effectiveness of aggregated small parcels as a viable green infrastructure strategy to manage stormwater.