Lansing, MI - The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has announced that its Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate is seeking members of the public to serve as clean water ambassadors who will advise EGLE on drinking water issues.
“Engaging Michigan residents so that they can help shape state and local efforts to provide clean drinking water to all Michigan families is at the heart of our mission,” said EGLE Clean Water Public Advocate Ninah Sasy. “We are excited to launch this effort to bring new and diverse voices from the community to the table and look forward to hearing their ideas on how we can make cleaner drinking water for all Michiganders a reality.”
In support of the outreach effort, EGLE today launched phase 1 of the Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate site, Michigan.gov/CleanWater. The new site provides an overview of the Public Advocate’s mission and includes information for interested members of the public to volunteer as clean water ambassadors at Michigan.gov/CleanWaterAmbassadors.
The Clean Water Public Advocate was established by Gov. Whitmer in Executive Order 2019-06, which created both EGLE and the Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate. The Public Advocate’s duties include ensuring that drinking water concerns are investigated and that trends in drinking water quality are analyzed. Based on this data, the Public Advocate can make recommendations regarding state laws, rules, regulations, and procedures so community concerns are addressed. The Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate also acts as an interface between state, local and private sector stakeholders to ensure that Michigan is more responsive to public drinking water concerns.
The Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate works closely with EGLE’s Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division, which oversees public water supplies, runs operator certification and training programs, assists local health departments in drinking water quality investigations, and certifies well construction, domestic septage and on-site wastewater programs.
To stay up to date on EGLE news, go to Michigan.gov/MIEnvironment and follow EGLE on Twitter @MichiganEGLE.