Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue

A court ruling gave Michigan regulators authority to ramp up controls on factory-farm waste that pollutes waterways. Legislators have proposed exemptions for waste produced by ‘biodigesters,’ which capture methane for electricity and transportation fuels.

Michigan State’s Jason Rowntree is out to prove that ranching is an ecological asset.

Amid a push toward renewable energy in Michigan, taxpayers are subsidizing technology to turn animal feces into fuel. Opponents say it further subsidizes the growth of an industry responsible for widespread water pollution problems.

Too much waste spread on too little land causes worst of Michigan’s water pollution.

Run-off promotes toxic algae blooms, but farmers and other phosphorus producers are reluctant to alter practices.

Water sampling finds no reduction in bloom-producing nutrients.

Billions spent on strategies to limit nutrient pollution that don’t work.

Michigan farmers irrigate with 187 billion gallons of groundwater a year, double what was used a decade earlier. Is the state prepared for more?

What does Michigan’s future look like if we adequately prepare the state’s water resources for climate change? Goodbye to septics and shore-hugging homes. Hello to more diversified crops on Michigan farms.

For all climate change has wrought, Michigan and the Great Lakes region — with an abundance of fresh water, warming winters and less fire-prone forests — stand to attract millions of new residents in future decades eager to escape flooded coastal areas and the parched land of the West.