Nonpoint Source Pollution

The Soil Health Investment Program, created by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy with Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding, is supporting farmers in adopting conservation practices. More than 60 farms are currently enrolled in the program.

Projects such as new invasive crayfish curriculum, the Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom Toxin Risk Forecast, and Environmental Sensitivity Index maps were implemented in 2025 to help address Great Lakes Restoration Initiative priorities throughout the basin.

Five Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funded projects have been implemented in the Chequamegon Bay region of Wisconsin to improve fish habitat and reduce sediment loading to Lake Superior. Since the work began in 2018, partners have restored 5,600 feet of stream channel and prevented 10,600 tons of sediment runoff per year.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is supporting a partnership between St. Louis County, the City of Duluth and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement green infrastructure practices at Hartley Park to protect water quality in Tischer Creek.

A first-of-its-kind study by the University of Illinois found that GLRI Demonstration Farms increased the adoption of cover crops among farmers in Eastern Wisconsin by 50% — a key improvement which will make a lasting impact in reducing nutrient runoff in the region.

The Great Lakes Commission issued a request for proposals for projects that will help improve Great Lakes water quality by reducing nutrient loads from agricultural watersheds and eroding shorelines and streams.

Seven projects in Indiana, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin were selected for funding through the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program.

In Lima, Ohio, researchers at The Ohio State University are testing an innovative water retention system to passively treat runoff before recycling the water back onto the field to irrigate crops.

A GLRI demonstration project is testing the potential for cell lysis technology to protect water quality by lowering the phosphorus content of manure.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and various partner institutions are currently testing a forecast model to better predict the timing and location of toxins in harmful algal blooms in the Western Lake Erie Basin.