“We look around this county, if you live here, and water is everywhere and it seems fairly ubiquitous and infinite but that is actually not true.”
As the Director of the Department of Strategic Impact for Ottawa County, Paul Sachs knows only too well the challenges. Despite 30 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, 300 miles of rivers and streams, and multiple inland lakes, the deep bedrock aquifer doesn’t replenish fast enough to satisfy commercial and residential expansion in Michigan’s fastest growing county.
“As we start to change the landscape, it also alters water flow and can have an impact on the availability to filter water naturally.”
The water quality forum will center on what’s being done to solve the issues, who’s doing it, and what else can be done by residents, developers, farmers, companies and local governments. One focus is natural sustainable landscaping instead of turf lawns.
“Engineered solutions using plantings and other natural features to capture that water, slow that runoff, help with natural filtering.”
The forum will cover topics such as pollution, drain water, conservation, and climate change.
“There are so many solutions we can start to implement. Some are more standard and some are more creative, but if we continue to promote how to do this work and why, we know we’re going to be on the right path for Ottawa County.”
EVENT DETAILS
When: April 12, 9:00AM to 2:30PM. Check-In begins at 8:30AM.
Where: Administration Building, Main Conference Room, 12220 Fillmore Street, West Olive
Cost:
Free to attend but registration is required. Register by April 10
