Celebrate HRWC’s 60 Years
In 2025 the Huron River Watershed Council celebrates our 60th anniversary! With our many stakeholders, we have invested six decades in protecting and restoring the Huron River, and we have much to be proud of. Without jurisdictional or regulatory authority, HRWC has a rich history of working across political boundaries to build partnerships, negotiate solutions to sticky situations, and devise impactful strategies to address the issues that threaten the watershed.
How to Celebrate 🎉
Huron River Day • Sunday May 18th 12 – 4pm | Gallup Park, Ann Arbor
Suds • Thursday September 11th
State of the Huron Conference • Wednesday November 12 | Washtenaw Community College
Our History
History Blog Part 1 – Tracing our Roots
History Blog Part 2 – The First 25 Years
History Blog Part 3 – The Second 25 Years
History Blog Part 4 – Looking Ahead
More
History of the Watershed Through Time Story Map
20,000 Years of the Huron River Watershed
Who Cares About the Huron River?
A 1980’s reel about the start of the Huron River Watershed Council made by the UM School of Natural Resources
Past HRWC Newsletters
Dig into our Newsletter Archives, going back over 20 years
The need for river protection
Our historical roots reach back to 1956 when a drought period caused severe water shortages in the Detroit Metropolitan area. A controversy between Wayne County and Detroit resulted in a National Sanitation Foundation study to survey present and future water resources and demands in the area.
At the same time, new industrial and subdivision development was occurring in Ann Arbor and eastern Washtenaw County. Water supply was sufficient, but pollution in the river was a growing problem, especially in the narrow part below Ann Arbor. The State Health Department studied the quality of the river and decided to restrict the expansion of any sewage treatment plants.
The Washtenaw County Planning Department was concerned about the impact of this policy on future development and asked the State Water Resources Commission to study the utilization of water in the watershed to help resolve water use and pollution concerns. Among the findings of the report, The Water Resource Conditions and Use in the Huron River Basin, was a recommendation that an agency was needed to evaluate the quality of the Huron River on a continuing basis. Public Act 200 of 1957 provided the basis for the local units of government to establish a cooperative information, research, and consultative agency to tackle multi-unit problems. An agency, the Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental Committee (HRWIC), was formed in April 1958. Four counties, eight cities and villages, and 20 townships joined. The purpose of the HRWIC was to study mutual problems relating to water management and use in the Huron River watershed. Its objective was to sponsor a series of studies that would lead to recommendations for review and action by member governmental units.
The studies focused on the biological and chemical characteristics of the river; groundwater geology and hydrology, and irrigation needs. Based on these studies, an engineering firm was hired to analyze waste disposal and water use in downstream portions of the Huron. Two important recommendations were made: the level of treatment by existing sewage treatment plants needed to be increased and an agency should be established to coordinate the development of a pollution control program in the watershed.
At the same time, the technical advisory committee of the HRWIC published A Water Use Policy Development Program that also strongly recommended the formation of an organization to maintain surveillance of the Huron. Enabling state legislation was needed and University of Michigan Professor Lyle Craine and others worked to get Act 253 of Public Acts of 1964, the Local River Management Act, passed.
The founding of HRWC
In 1965, 17 governmental units petitioned the State Water Resources Commission to establish the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC). The petition was granted and in April 1965 the first watershed council in Michigan was formed. The office was moved from the County Building to 415 W. Washington in Ann Arbor and Jerome Fulton, a University of Michigan graduate student, was hired as a part-time executive secretary.
The first members of HRWC included 24 units of government. Its function was to: 1) conduct studies; 2) give reports; 3) request the Water Resources Commission to survey the watershed to establish minimum levels of stream flow; 4) recommend establishment of a River Management District when needed; 5) advise agencies of problems and needs of the watershed; 6) cooperate with federal, state, and local agencies; 7) employ an executive secretary and other personnel as needed and within budget; 8 ) form sub-committees or advisory committees; and 9) seek special project funds.
HRWC’s accomplishments
Since our inception, HRWC has been a respected voice in the watershed’s 73 communities with a history of working creatively and cooperatively to tackle a variety of issues.
- HRWC has built our reputation by authoring sound scientific reports that individuals, agencies, and governments use to guide their decision-making. Our studies have covered a broad range of topics including: impervious surface coverage and land development practices, coliform bacteria monitoring, fisheries improvement, the impact of septic systems on lakes, groundwater vulnerability, flood control, benthic macroinvertebrate populations, influences of various land uses on water quality, and existing and lost native ecosystems.
- Since its inception HRWC has served as a common ground where stakeholders come together to share, collaborate and coordinate water management policies and programs. Throughout the years these discussions have resulted in reports that governments and agencies have used to direct policies such as wellhead protection planning, pollution prevention in threatened waters, land use planning, flood forecasting and warning, phosphorus reduction, and numerous Watershed Management Plans.
- Over the course of our history HRWC has played a vital role in the development and passage of statewide legislation to protect water resources. The Inland Lakes and Streams Act, the Natural Rivers Act, the Clean Water Act and its re-authorization, the Goemare-Anderson Wetland Protection Act, the Michigan Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Act, the Michigan River Basin Management Act, and many others have benefited from HRWC’s expertise and advocacy.
- HRWC played a significant role in portions of the Huron River receiving a Natural River designation in the 1970s. The Huron is the only river in Southeast Michigan to have a state-designated Natural River District.
- HRWC is recognized statewide for its participatory science programs that make the Huron one of the best-studied rivers in Michigan. Hundreds of volunteers monitor the quality of the river each season. These individuals assess habitat, the benthic macroinvertebrates that live in the Huron and its tributaries, water chemistry, and flow levels. Volunteers translate the results of their studies into actions, restoring wetlands, educating their neighbors, and working on local land use policies.
- Because of our experience coordinating successful volunteer monitoring since 1992, HRWC leads the Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps). We teach groups across the state how to study their rivers’ macroinvertebrates. Since 2002 our chemistry and flow monitoring data has informed stormwater policies throughout the region. And we serve as a leading member of the Lake Erie Volunteer Science Advisory Network.
- HRWC engages and educates the public about how to reduce the pollution that comes from our everyday actions. With support from our stormwater collaboratives, we use social media, advertising, mailings, outreach at public festivals, public relations, our annual Watershed Community Calendar, our Adopt A Storm Drain Program and more to reach watershed residents with the information they need to make a difference.
- HRWC works with communities to protect their natural resources and the groundwater and surface water that supplies municipal drinking water. We are a recognized and respected source of technical information among government officials locally and at the state level. Our geographic information systems (GIS) modeling, and award-winning guidebooks, toolkits and trainings have helped hundred of communities in Michigan protect their drinking water and natural resources.
- HRWC’S watershed management planning efforts have brought together landowners, builders, elected officials, interest groups, and scientists from 56 different communities to develop and implement community-based roadmaps to guide future protection and restoration efforts. Watershed Management Plans are in-depth studies of the physical, biological, chemical and social conditions of a watershed that put forward bold ideas for restoring and protecting it. The Huron has six approved plans thanks to HRWC’s leadership.
Today, HRWC’s staff coordinates many long-running programs and hundreds of volunteers who serve on our boards, committees, and in other activities. HRWC’s efforts fall into four major categories: Study, Restore, Protect, and Connect. Our work covers pollution prevention and abatement, hands-on student education, volunteer river monitoring, natural resource planning, public education and engagement, and wetland and floodplain protection. Learn more about our current programs and projects.