But environmental activists already have launched online campaigns, denouncing the potential cuts as harmful to Michigan’s most prized natural resource.

“This is by far the most severe, draconian cut that I’ve seen since the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative began in 2010,” said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “We are in uncharted waters right now.”

The Great Lakes have been put on the chopping block, Brammeier says, because the federal government is looking for ways to address a $642 billion deficit, as projected for 2013 by the Congressional Budget Office.

But dealing with the deficit in that way could have serious repercussions on the Great Lakes region, he says.

“Stopping invasive species, cleaning up toxic hot-spots, stopping algae blooms and stopping sewage from getting into the lakes — these are basics that we should have completed a long time ago,” Brammeier said. “We are talking about basic needs that keep people and families safe when they use the water, and (give) this region, our region, an economic fighting chance.”

Jon Allan, director of the Office of the Great Lakes at the Department of Environmental Quality, adds that “It’s not just about the Great Lakes, but about taking money away from Michigan communities.”

Adding, “What’s currently there has been there for a long time.” And lack of funding could “continue to perpetuate a less-than-healthy condition.”

Marissa Luna, who graduated from MSU’s James Madison College last December is now the communications coordinator for Clean Water Action, a nonprofit that advocates for cleaning up pollution in the Great Lakes, among other environmental causes.

Luna encouraged other students to take heed.

“We are the generation who’s going to have this responsibility fall on our shoulders,” she said. “It is really our responsibility to leave our Great Lakes and our environment better for the future generations than what we were left.”