Potato industry urges local water districts to fix gaps in Michigan screening tool

Kelly Turner, representing the Michigan Potato Industry Commission, told the House Agriculture Committee that Michigan’s potato sector is facing growing tension with the state’s water‑assessment system and proposed locally governed "water districts" to fill data and process gaps.

Turner said Michigan grows nearly 2,000,000,000 pounds of potatoes across categories and that the industry contributes about $2.5 billion annually and supports roughly 22,000 jobs. "We are Michigan's second largest commodity, so we grow 1.9, almost 2,000,000,000 pounds of potatoes in all categories," Turner said, using those figures to underscore the economic stakes for growers and processors.

The nut graf: Industry witnesses argued the Michigan Water Withdrawal Assessment Tool (MiWAT) functions as intended as a statewide screening system but lacks the local monitoring data and modeling capacity needed for site‑level regulatory decisions. They proposed creating water districts that would pool grower monitoring data, fund third‑party hydrogeologists to build local models and establish an arbitrationlike appeals board to reduce costly litigation and site‑specific…