April 25, 2022

Michigan is consuming more water from the Great Lakes

A change in thermoelectric technology may explain the increase.

The amount of water Michigan consumes from the Great Lakes, meaning water that never makes it back into the sources, was steadily decreasing for the seven years before 2019. That year, however, daily Great Lakes water consumption jumped 67% to almost 300 million gallons per day.

Some Michigan power plants have been switching to a "recirculated" cooling process, which consumes three-quarters of the water it takes. But it actually requires much less water than its counterpart -- once-through cooling. This method uses 30-50 times more water, according to the EPA.

And while water consumption has increased, Michigan is withdrawing much less from the Great Lakes. The state cut it's usage 24% over the past eight years, in part due to updating power plants with closed-loop cooling, but also due to closing older, water-guzzling plants throughout the state.