The University of Michigan is developing new technologies, research, educational programs, and partnerships to better understand and effectively address the world’s most critical issues pertaining to water, from aquatic life to infrastructure and water quantity.
From protecting the Great Lakes to tackling global drought, U-M’s research environment fosters creativity, collaboration, and effective problem solving across a variety of disciplines. Some of our key partnerships include: the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, The Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program, Michigan Sea Grant, the U-M Water Center, and the Urban Collaboratory. Find U-M experts in sustainability and environmental science, across fields and academic units.
An estimated 8 million tons of plastic trash enters the ocean each year, and most of it is battered by sun and waves into microplastics—tiny flecks that can ride currents hundreds or thousands of miles from their point of entry. The debris can harm sea life and marine ecosystems, and it’s extremely difficult to track and clean up.
A team of scientists including a U-M aquatic ecologist is forecasting this summer’s Gulf of Mexico hypoxic area or “dead zone,” an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life, to be approximately 4,880 square miles, a bit smaller than the state of Connecticut. The 2021 forecasted area is smaller than, but close to, the five-year-average measured size of 5,400 square miles.
As the deadline approaches for Canadian oil company Enbridge to shut down a 4.5-mile section of the Line 5 pipeline that runs beneath Lake Michigan, U-M engineering researchers offered insights into how the company might go about doing that, and also how they might construct a tunnel under the lakebed for a replacement section of the line.
A lot of attention has been paid in recent years to the carbon footprint of the foods we eat, with much of the focus on the outsize contribution of meat production and especially beef. But much less is known about the implications of individual U.S. dietary choices on other environmental concerns, such as water scarcity.
How will fluctuating water levels across the Great Lakes impact the growth of cities, people moving to the region, changes in water supply and the overall economy? Professor Drew Gronewold is working with researchers across U-M to answer those critical questions.
U-M researchers will enlist the help of citizen scientists in a new project to digitize thousands of historical records—some dating back more than a century—about Michigan inland lake conditions and fish abundances. Scientists will feed the digitized data into computer models to study the impacts of climate change and other factors on the fish in Michigan’s inland lakes.
