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An interactive map displaying contaminated sites throughout Michigan regulated under Parts 213, 201, and 211.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Water Well Viewer (WWV), is an interactive mapping system that displays water wells along with other information, such as wellhead protection areas, underground storage tanks, and sites of environmental contamination. Water well locations have been identified by address matching, the use of global positioning systems (GPS), and by legal descriptions.
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October 03, 2025
Heritage Landing after restoration at Muskegon Lake. Credit: Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership. Blue waters sparkle in the afternoon sun. Sailboats catch gentle breezes. Cattails and other native wetland plants hug a shoreline ringed by recreational trails. Patient anglers cast for bass, bluegill, or pike.
This is not the Muskegon Lake that Kathy Evans once knew.
“I grew up in Muskegon, and I remember when this was an industrial shoreline, and it was smoky and smelly, and there were open-burning fires,” she said. “If you were in downtown Muskegon shopping, you wouldn’t even know there was a shoreline of a lake here – unless you or your parents worked in one of the factories.”
Evans, who has advocated for the lake’s revival since the 1980s, was on hand Wednesday, Oct. 1, to celebrate its official removal from the list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern. She and other local supporters joined city, state, and federal officials at Muskegon’s Heritage Landing park to celebrate the delisting.
EGLE Director Phil Roos listens as Kathy Evans describes the restoration of a former dumping ground in the delisted Muskegon Lake Area of Concern. Coincidentally, the celebration took place 34 years to the day after the first meeting of the public advisory committee that later became the Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership (MLWP), a restoration partner Evans serves as treasurer.
“Being able to access the shoreline and know that the water is so much healthier is more than gratifying,” Evans said. “It means a lot to me. Sometimes I start crying when I think of all the people that were involved. … It is kind of emotional.”
AOCs are designated areas in the Great Lakes Basin marked by high levels of historical legacy pollution requiring cleanup. The Great Lakes AOC Program was established in 1987 under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to tackle the worst pollution hot spots.
Muskegon Lake was named an AOC even earlier, in 1985, following more than a century of contamination from industrial and municipal waste and environmental degradation.
Over the next 40 years and beginning in earnest in the late 1990s, governments and other supporters invested more than $84 million in remediation and restoration: $67 million in federal funds and $17 million in state, local, and private contributions. Funding mechanisms included the Clean Michigan Initiative, Great Lakes Legacy Act, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and more. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is among the governmental partners.
The work is already paying dividends. According to a Grand Valley State University (GVSU) study, the remediation and restoration of Muskegon Lake will increase local home values by nearly $8 million and boost the local recreation economy by $28 million a year. Muskegon already has seen a 19% increase in marina customers and a 45% increase in county hotel room tax collections. The projections anticipate a nearly six to one ratio of return on investment.
“Completing this long journey of recovery, restoration, and renewal is a tremendous community achievement that EGLE has been proud to assist,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos. “Along with many partners, we celebrate today’s success and look forward to supporting tomorrow’s stewardship and growth.”
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator and Great Lakes National Program Manager Anne Vogel called the delisting “a significant milestone in our ongoing work to restore and protect the Great Lakes.”
Additional partners include the Muskegon Conservation District, the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission (WMSRDC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Valley State University (GVSU), the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, and local governments and tribes.
By 2024, each of Muskegon Lake’s beneficial use impairments, or BUIs, under the AOC program was formally removed. Signoff by the U.S. State Department on Sept. 26 made the delisting official.
Participants in Wednesday’s celebrations spoke of the importance of ongoing work to clean, restore, and revive the lake and shoreline as good stewards.
“Let us not forget there’s still work to be done,” said WMSRDC Executive Director Erin Kuhn.
Muskegon Lake covers 4,149 acres and flows into Lake Michigan from the west coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
It is the eighth U.S. Area of Concern to be delisted and the fourth in Michigan, after Deer Lake in the Upper Peninsula and White Lake along Lake Michigan were delisted in 2014 and the Lower Menominee River, shared with Wisconsin, was delisted in 2020. More information is available on the EPA’s Muskegon Lake Area of Concern website.
Ten AOCs remain in Michigan, all in various states of restoration: Torch Lake, Manistique River, and St. Marys River in the Upper Peninsula; Kalamazoo River in West Michigan; Saginaw River and Bay in the Thumb area; and St. Clair River, Clinton River, Rouge River, Detroit River, and River Raisin in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Here’s what others had to say about the Muskegon Lake delisting:
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The 2025 Michigan Environmental Justice Conference, hosted by EGLE’s Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate (OEJPA), recently highlighted the work of these community organizations and spotlighted strategies for advancing environmental justice in Michigan’s underserved and vulnerable communities.
Requests should be submitted by Oct. 31, 2025, to be considered for the 2026 field season. Submission of a request does not guarantee the WRD will be able to conduct the monitoring.
After decades of coordinated cleanup and community engagement, Muskegon Lake is no longer on a list of the Great Lakes’ most polluted places.
The new mapper provides improved performance, adds new layers, and achieves compliance with the American Disability Act.
The report tracks levels of key pollutants.
The awards ceremony shined a light on the many ways EGLE staff go above and beyond every day.
Stiltgrass, a highly invasive annual grass that spreads quickly in disturbed areas, recently was detected in Augusta Creek, Barry and Petersburg state game areas.
The grants will help cover the cost of removing contamination and making the properties safe to use again.
The Tibbits Energy Storage Facility is an example of what’s possible when innovation, forward-thinking policy and strong partnerships come together.
