Water Management

The Michigan State University campus is situated in the Red Cedar watershed and is home to a number of surface water bodies. The Red Cedar River, which winds through campus, is the most visible water body is and arguably the natural focal point of campus life.

The university's water needs are supplied by the Saginaw Aquifer, a deep sandstone formation that lies beneath much of central Michigan's Lower Peninsula. This water is used for:

• drinking
• washing
• bathing
• irrigation
• steam to make electricity and to heat and cool the campus infrastructure.

Almost all of the water that is consumed at Michigan State University for drinking, irrigation, etc., is pumped from the Saginaw Aquifer via 17 wells into a reservoir located on the south end of campus. Water quality measurements are performed regularly and our water meets or exceeds all State of Michigan and EPA standards. Water quality reports can be found here.

Commitment to excellence

MSU's Wellhead Protection Plan was approved by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in 2000 and updated in 2006. In addition, MSU has been designated a Groundwater Guardian (GG) community by the Groundwater Foundation since 2001. GG is a national program that recognizes communities for proactive groundwater protection activities.

MSU has a team of faculty, staff and students who address storm water management to fulfill requirements of Phase II Storm Water National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit. Activities include:

• working with 20 jurisdictions within the Greater Lansing Area to implement watershed management plans in the urbanized areas
• identifying and eliminating illicit discharges to the Red Cedar River
• modeling storm water flow on the campus
• incorporating low impact development techniques in areas of new development
• implementing a public education plan that includes a storm drain marking program and Red Cedar River cleanup events.

Water consumption

Water from the 17 wells is pumped to the reservoir, except for water used for irrigation at the farms and golf-courses. From the reservoir it is sent around campus for the various buildings.

The steam that is fed to the campus returns as condensate and is cleaned up and fed into the open feedwater preheater. The campus acts like a condenser for the power plant, and it is getting heat without having to maintain furnace or boiler equipment for each building.

MSU is not near a large enough body of water to pull cooling water from it. We are not permitted (and would not want) to raise the temperature of the Red Cedar river. Therefore, we have to use some of the power we generate to run cooling towers to chill the water.

Cooling towers are the large, industrial-looking rectangular structures that you often see water vapor emanating from at all times of the year. If you drive by the power plant you will see them across from the power plant, on the north side of service road.

Water Treatment

Ion exchange is used to treat inlet water to remove anions and cations. Cation exchange units use ion exchange resins, working on the same principles as home water softeners. After pretreatment, the inlet water passes through the open feedwater preheaters (deaerators).