I have previously reported on projects that are paid for out of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) fund that have nothing or very little to do with the Great Lakes.  Well this one might have something to do with the Great Lakes, but is it really worth spending $475,000 of tax dollars on it?

Once again great work has been performed by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in discovering and expenditure of $474,916 on what project that I think many would think is a waste of our taxpayer dollars.

As reported by the Michigan Capitol Confidential news site:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) spent $474,916 to prevent rainwater that lands on a Detroit highway from getting into Lake Erie.

The GLRI estimates the project will prevent 51,187 gallons of rainwater runoff each year from reaching Lake Erie. By comparison, an Olympic-sized swimming pool holds 660,253 gallons, 12 times more water than the project will collect. Lake Erie contains 127.6 trillion gallons of water — 127,600,000,000,000 – which comes to 2.49 billion gallons of lake water for every gallon of rainwater prevented from reaching the lake.

Really, we spent a half of million dollars on preventing 1/12th of the water in an Olympic size pool from getting into Lake Erie.  You really have to be kidding me!

Remember this the next time a politician or person thinks that we should not cut funding to the GLRI fund, it is starting to sound like a boondoggle to me.  I am sure there are some great projects funded by the GLRI but the evidence of not so great projects or even projects that have nothing to do with the Great Lakes is adding up.

Here is another interesting point, the nonprofit group Greening of Detroit was the one which received the $474,916 grant for the roadway rainwater collection. The president of that group is listed as Rebecca Salminen Witt, who receives a salary of $137,396.

Not a bad gig if you could get one.

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