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In the heart of the Great Lakes, twin 63-year-old pipelines pump nearly 23 million gallons of oil and other petroleum products a day through the Straits of Mackinac.

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Bottled Water & Diversions
The Great Lakes faces an uncertain future of regional competition for food, energy, and water. Every imaginable scheme to divert water from the Great Lakes has been contemplated.

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Aquaculture
The state of Michigan sits at the center of a debate over whether to open its Great Lakes waters and tributaries to commercial aquaculture or fish farming.

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Hats off to the folks at FLOW who have gone above and beyond the call of duty working to protect our Great Lakes. Their passion, professionalism and dedication are unsurpassed in the effort to keep Pure Michigan’s water pure. I truly hope that every one will support this outstanding organization in their mission to protect our way of life and life itself.”

-David Ullrich - Former Executive Director, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative

Our Mission

FLOW is a Great Lakes water law and policy 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the common waters of the Great Lakes Basin through public trust solutions founded in 2011 by legendary water attorney Jim Olson. The public trust – an ancient and durable legal doctrine – exists in all Great Lakes jurisdictions and provides its 40 million citizens a legal right to use these common waters for drinking, fishing, swimming, recreation, navigation and the like. It also holds state governments accountable for ensuring these waters and public uses are protected for current and future generations. The public trust demands that we all are responsible for protecting water as a common shared resource.  The Great Lakes belong to all of us and they are ours to defend.