Great Lakes Water Authority asks Legislature for police powers to protect regional water system

Representatives and officials from the Great Lakes Water Authority testified on a package of four bills — House Bills 4352, 4353, 4354 and 4355 — that would grant the authority law-enforcement powers to protect its drinking-water and wastewater systems.

Representative Carter introduced the witnesses and the bills before the House Rules Committee. William Wolfson, deputy chief executive officer of the Great Lakes Water Authority, said the authority “grew out of the city of Detroit bankruptcy,” that its assets are owned by the city of Detroit and leased to the authority in perpetuity, and that the requested powers would restore policing functions the system previously had.

The authority’s witnesses described the scale and risk to the system. Wolfson said the authority provides drinking water to roughly 3.9 million people (about 40% of Michigan’s population) and wastewater conveyance and treatment for about 2.8 million people (about 30%). He said the GLWA footprint extends from Monroe County north to Flint and Genesee counties and includes Lapeer, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

Chief Barnett Jones, chief of security for GLWA, said the authority needs police powers to investigate and prevent insider threats and to conduct background checks on contractors, vendors and employees. “To do this job, we have to have the ability to enforce the law,” Jones said, adding that relying on outside jurisdictions to prioritize GLWA incidents is not sufficient.

Deputy Chief Walter Davis, a former Michigan State Police district coordinator for Homeland Security and Emergency Management, testified that GLWA facilities handle hazardous chemicals — including chlorine, hydrochloric acid and fluoride — and that immediate, on-site investigative capability is necessary to determine who is on a facility and to respond quickly to incidents. Davis said delays while waiting for other agencies to respond are too long for protecting critical infrastructure.

Representatives questioned staffing and training. Jones said GLWA currently has 83 total staff and, if granted police powers, would request roughly 25 sworn positions that would attend the state police academy and meet Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) training requirements. “So we'd have 25 sworn police officers,” Jones said. Representative Martin asked about recruitment challenges; Jones said GLWA expects to fill some positions internally and to recruit externally if needed.

Committee members also asked about rulemaking and oversight. Wolfson said any formal rules would follow a public process and require approval by the authority’s six-member board (with representatives appointed by Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, two from Detroit and one gubernatorial appointee). He said procedures likely would not change immediately but that rules might be promulgated in the future as technology and operations evolve.

No formal committee vote on the GLWA bills is recorded in the transcript. The bills were presented and discussed during the committee’s hearing;