By Ruth Thornton
Wyoming-Kentwood News Today Contributor
greer@wktv.org

Ten organizations and local governments in West Michigan were recently awarded nearly $60,000 in funding from the state to remove trash from streams and monitor water quality. 

“Water is the most valuable non-renewable resource we have,” said Joe Bush, the water resources commissioner for Ottawa County. “People always think oil is.” But, he said, you can’t drink oil. “We can’t take it for granted that [clean water] is here, because it could be gone tomorrow.”

One of the grants went to Ottawa County Water Resources, which received $3,359 to clean up local streams and drains. The money will fund two cleanups this year.

Twenty volunteers helped during the first event on May 13, Bush said. “We had about twelve 50-gallon trash bags full in about two hours. We had a bunch of tires that were in the drain. We pretty much filled up a dumpster.”

Bush says he was elated the first time he got the grant a couple of years ago. He wanted to set up a reliable funding source for cleanups every year and engage the local community. 

Helping in a cleanup does not mean volunteers have to go into the water. 

“We always have two different drains for our drain cleanups,” Bush explained. “One drain is suitable for an energetic group that wants to put on waders and haul trash out of the water.”

 Volunteers who would rather stay dry can choose the second location and walk along the road to pick up trash. 

“There’s a drain for everybody,” Bush said. “We’ve had kids come with the grandparents, and it’s just fun to do it as a family. It’s a good way to get people outside and enjoy nature.

“I always tell people, show up as you are, and we’ll dress you for the occasion, we supply all that stuff, like gloves and waders,” Bush said. 

$100,000 awarded statewide

The grant was part of nearly $60,000 that went to West Michigan programs, out of around $100,000 awarded statewide, through the Michigan Clean Water Corps Program (also called MiCorps) that funds not only cleanup efforts, but also stream monitoring.

Tamara Lipsey, an aquatic biologist at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (commonly referred to as EGLE) said around three-quarters of the grant usually goes to watershed groups or conservation districts to train volunteers to monitor water quality. They do that by assessing the stream habitat and so-called ‘macroinvertebrates,’ or small organisms like insects, crayfish, snails and mussels.

Monitoring the presence and health of macroinvertebrates provides long-term information, she said, compared to taking a water sample, which only captures the water quality at one point in time. 

“These critters stay in the water year-round, sometimes multiple years, and some are more sensitive to pollution than others,” Lipsey explained. “By seeing what’s there, a stream organization can get a quick snapshot of what the water quality is at a site.”

Around 30 groups participate in the monitoring program statewide. Their work is an important supplement to EGLE biologists, who only have the capacity to sample each of Michigan’s 86 watersheds – the area of land that drains into a river – once every five years, she said. 

“Volunteers sampling those rivers and streams in those years that we’re not there is really helpful to keep an eye on our waters. If they find something troubling, they can reach out and we will go and do some additional investigation to see what’s happening at a stream,” Lipsey said. 

Lipsey estimates that thousands of volunteers have been trained since the monitoring grant program started around 20 years ago.

But funding for MiCorps is limited, and more groups apply for money than is available. In 2026, around $71,000 worth of projects requested by 19 qualified organizations could not be funded. 

The Renew Michigan Fund, which covers various environmental cleanup and waste management programs, pays for the water quality monitoring program, while stream cleanups are funded by water quality license plate sales.  

To sign up for cleanup events, and/or support funding

Lipsey encourages people interested in supporting water quality to sign up for one of the cleanup events or a monitoring effort, and to support funding for the program. 

Bush is planning another cleanup on Sept. 19, 2026. He encourages anyone interested in volunteering to register ahead of time to facilitate planning. 

It’s important to keep the streams and drains free of trash, Bush said. “Everything that goes in our creeks ends up somehow in somebody’s waterway. It could end up in your drinking water.”

For more information on the fall cleanup event in Ottawa County, check the Water Resources Commissioner website or sign up for email alerts here.  

More information on MiCorps’ Stream Monitoring Program can be found on their website at www.micorps.net/streams, including how to sign up as a volunteer. A story map about EGLE’s stream sampling efforts is available at this link.