Who we are

About Healthy Urban Waters

Healthy Urban Waters (HUW) is a program at Wayne State University that promotes and delivers research, education, technology development and public engagement on water resources in the urban environment.  Our focus area is the Huron to Erie corridor, although our expertise and application extends throughout the Great Lakes watershed.  Our mission is to engage and empower the public in creating a sustainable urban environment based on sound science.

Wayne State University (WSU) is a leader in community-based water research, science and education, and HUW builds upon that experience by engaging WSU faculty and students in collaborative projects with partner academic institutions, government agencies, community groups and industry in the United States and Canada.  The focus of these projects is on addressing the challenges of environmental degradation due to human activities, such as polluted stormwater runoff, airborne deposition and industrial wastewater.  Finding solutions to complex environmental problems requires collaboration between academics and practitioners across disciplines and across socio-political and institutional boundaries.  HUW provides both a forum for this collaborative work and an opportunity for innovations to become integrated into decision-making processes and institutional practices.