🛡️ Michigan’s Groundwater Breakthrough

When Michigan faced the daunting challenge of protecting thousands of community groundwater systems, the scale of the task seemed insurmountable. Traditional wellhead protection efforts—costing an average of $36,000 per system—made statewide coverage financially and logistically impractical. But through a visionary partnership between the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and Michigan State University, a new chapter began.

Enter MAGNET4WATER: a modular, data-driven platform that reimagined groundwater protection as a scalable, intelligent system. Powered by high-resolution national and global datasets, MAGNET integrated Michigan’s vast spatial fabric of water systems with climate stress frameworks, water well records, lithologies, recharge zones, glacial and bedrock geology, water quality data, and ecological assets—from critical habitats to contamination sites.

🚀 The Solution

EGLE deployed MAGNET statewide to simulate groundwater flow, delineate Wellhead Protection Areas (WHPAs), and unify environmental intelligence across agencies, communities, and ecosystems. What once took months per site now happened in days—automated, consistent, and transparent.

🌍 The Impact

• Statewide WHPA coverage completed for all remaining community systems
• $30 million saved in taxpayer dollars
• Unified planning across public health, infrastructure, and environmental sectors
• Real-time visualizations used to educate communities and build trust
• Policy decisions informed by live data—not just mandates
• Stakeholder workshops fostered engagement and local empowerment

“One of the most exciting technological projects we’ve worked on in our combined 72 years with the DEQ — truly a ‘break through the barriers’ kind of research.”
— Elgar Brown, the chief of MDEQ environmental health and Scott Ross, the chief of the state’s source water protection unit.

“This research will revolutionize how the DEQ evaluates groundwater in the years to come. We don’t just mandate collecting data — we use data to impact public policy.”
— James Cleland, Chief of the EGLE Water Bureau

“What developed from this collaborative effort is an innovative approach that makes use of many State of Michigan and Federal databases to complete the WHPA delineations for all remaining community groundwater supply systems, resulting in a savings to taxpayers of approximately $30,000,000.”
— Rick Mandle, Groundwater Modeling Program Manager, EGLE

💰 Economic Intelligence

MAGNET didn’t just solve a technical problem—it redefined what’s financially and operationally possible:

• Traditional Cost: ~$36,000/system × thousands of systems
• MAGNET Efficiency: ~$30M saved through automation and scale
• Public ROI: Faster protection, broader coverage, smarter spending
• Blueprint for Others: A replicable model for states and agencies nationwide

🔄 A New Standard

This wasn’t just a project—it was a movement. MAGNET4WATER proved that with the right data, the right partnerships, and the right systems, environmental protection can be fast, affordable, and deeply collaborative. It turned fragmented datasets into unified intelligence. It turned mandates into trust. And it turned a statewide challenge into a national model.