Mich. leaders: Engineering aid for lakes

LANSING, Mich., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Three top Michigan politicians have come forward with a plan for the low water levels at lakes statewide: using man-made engineering to fix the problem.

The proposal from Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., comes before a detailed study on the declining water levels can be completed by an international group, the Detroit Free Press said Sunday.

With that study not expected to be completed until 2009, the trio have suggested using historical engineering methods to help stem the state's declining water levels.

The politicians have backed a plan to use man-made structures such as concrete speed bumps as a flow inhibitor that could potentially stop water from escaping due to erosion.

Granholm's spokeswoman, Liz Boyd, said the plan could solve a problem that federal officials caused in the 1960s through shoreline alterations, dredging and sand mining.

"We need the federal government to help us solve a problem they helped create decades ago," Boyd told the newspaper.