Auditor General flags gaps in Michigan water‑withdrawal program; enforcement, tools and recordkeeping cited

The House Committee on Oversight heard March 11 from Michigan's Office of the Auditor General that the state's water withdrawal program has material weaknesses in its analysis tools, compliance monitoring and recordkeeping.

Auditor Nancy Bayshore, an audit manager with the auditor general's office, described the audit's scope and findings. "Michigan and other Great Lakes states and provinces have enacted laws to regulate water uses within the Great Lakes Basin in accordance with the Great Lakes Saint Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact," she said. Jessica Armstrong, the audit supervisor, told the committee the office "determine[d] the division's administration of the program to be sufficient with exceptions." The audit generally covered January 2022 through June 2023.

The nut of the report: auditors identified three material findings and two reportable conditions. The first material finding said the assessment tool used to automatically evaluate proposed withdrawals produced different stream‑depletion results than the alternative batch tool used for site‑specific reviews. For four of 14 registrations reviewed,…