Great Lakes supporters are in Washington, D.C., with the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, to urge members of Congress to continue their support for federal investments to protect the drinking water, public health, jobs, and quality of life for the millions of people in the eight-state region.

Materials from Great Lakes Day 2025

The Coalition is seeking creative proposals for visits to restoration sites, businesses or communities benefiting directly from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition supports new bipartisan federal legislation to restore and protect the Great Lakes – the source of drinking water for more than 42 million people. The Senate legislation reauthorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, allowing up to $500 million annually in support of restoration actions in the region.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition supports new bipartisan federal legislation to restore and protect the Great Lakes. The legislation reauthorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, allowing up to $500 million annually in support of restoration actions in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to clean up toxic pollution, curb farm and city runoff, restore wildlife habitat, and confront invasive species.

Before closing out 2024, we want to take some time to celebrate some of the clean water wins this past year. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is grateful for our partners across the eight-state Great Lakes region and these successes wouldn’t have been possible without their continual efforts; thank you, all!

The U.S. Senate last night passed the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024. It is important that the House pass the bill in the remaining days of Congress, as a failure to act will mean that the Great Lakes congressional delegation will have to start from square one with a new Congress in January 2025.

The dust is settling after the 2024 elections, and Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition staff are assessing what the elections will mean for our work. In the meantime, there’s a lot of work left to do before Congress adjourns at the end of December, and we are focusing on several priorities that we believe can be pushed across the finish line.