Who Uses the Water in Lake Michigan?

A new series from the Chicago Tribune explores the Midwest's complicated relationship with Lake Michigan.

1 minute read

October 28, 2017, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Chicago, Illinois

Jake Hukee / Shutterstock

The Chicago Tribune has published an in-depth series of reports on Lake Michigan, more specifically, who uses the water from Lake Michigan.

To supplement the two other articles in the series, Jemal R. Brinson , Kori Rumore, and Cecilia Reyes have written a companion posts that centers on a large interactive map of the lake, which shows some of the largest kinds of users drawing from the lake, in addition to the terrain of the lake bottom and the land surrounding the lake. 

"Along the more than 1,600 miles of shoreline are power plants, factories, museums, parks and much more," explains the article. "Some manufacturers and utilities set up near the lake because the resource is so central to what they do, whether it’s a power plant that uses water to cool components or a brewery that uses water as part of its beermaking."

The other two articles in the series are titled "Same lake, unequal rates" and "Residents pay for billions lost."

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 in Chicago Tribune

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