According to a report out of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) has recently awarded over $436,000 in grants to a variety of water systems in the area via grants. With the historic issues in Flint with their drinking water, Michigan has finally decided that they need to start teaching education about water systems at their very source. The idea, a spokesperson at EGLE claimed, is to make sure that people who work for these water systems understand where the water comes from, and also how it needs to be treated for public consumption. There have been far too many towns and cities in America over the past decade that have failed their citizens with water systems. Michigan is giving grants ranging from $1,000 to upwards of $70,000 to 29 different water systems in the state, all with the goal of basic education.

Of course, if these grants were to actually repair and build water systems, it would have cost many millions of dollars; perhaps even billions of dollars. Though because this money is only to educate people about the source of water, and how to handle it, the EGLE claims that they do not need to invest a lot of money to do this. The goal is to provide financial support for these water systems as they begin to learn more about the water sources and the necessary processes. For many people, this is coming too late. For others, however, it's better late than never, and they really hope that Michigan can handle its water a lot better and not end up with another disaster like Flint on their hands.

A lot of this funding will go to the beginning stages of much larger infrastructure upgrades. For instance, some of this funding will be used for programs that are working to update wellhead protection areas. This is just for the initial education about these areas, however, and no serious changes will be made at this point in time. As for grant recipients, they had to provide 50% matching funds, create a water protection team, and demonstrate a commitment to their water program(s).

Money Was Never the Issue

Looking at these grants from an unbiased perspective, however, it's plain to see that money was never the state's problem when it comes to keeping their water clean. Flint, for instance, had poured billions of dollars into cleaning their water. Their issue was that they hired companies that had no idea what they were doing, and they just ended up wasting that money on nothing. A lot of residents in Michigan are happy that these water system companies are going to take more serious steps in understanding how to collect and treat water. Others, however, are very cynical here and view this as just more money wasted. Either way you want to look at it, having money to spend on the problem was never the issue in Michigan. It was incompetence, if not outright corruption.

Spending money here might actually help to educate people about how to better treat the water, according to proponents of the program. Plus, it's not a lot of money. Michigan is hoping to get a lot done here for well under a million dollars. A state not spending millions yet solving a problem would be a first, to be sure.

More Waste, Less Help

Critics are already starting to get very loud in Michigan about these new grants. It's not because of Whitmer, and it's not because of Flint. It's because people are suffering and can't buy food, and thousands of people are fleeing the state every single month. And instead of offering grants to improve homes or open businesses, the state is instead spending grant money on water education. It's understandable that some people would be upset that the state still isn't taking inflation very seriously. Most Democrat-led states in America refuse to even admit that inflation is a problem. They instead sing the praises of Joe Biden, while many of their citizens register to vote as Republicans. It's all a big mess, and everything seems to tie right back into politics.

Though despite how angry critics get at this grant spending, everyone has to admit that if there's a state out there that could use a little more water education, it would definitely be Michigan. The state has a long history of not being able to provide clean water.