Michigan Compiled Laws

Mich. Comp. Laws § 324.3106 (2026)

Establishment of pollution standards; permits; determination of volume of water and high and low water marks; rules; orders; pollution prevention.

✓ current as of July 2026
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NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT


Act 451 of 1994


324.3106 Establishment of pollution standards; permits; determination of volume of water and high and low water marks; rules; orders; pollution prevention.

Sec. 3106.

    The department shall establish pollution standards for lakes, rivers, streams, and other waters of the state in relation to the public use to which they are or may be put, as it considers necessary. The department shall issue permits that will assure compliance with state standards to regulate municipal, industrial, and commercial discharges or storage of any substance that may affect the quality of the waters of the state. The department may set permit restrictions that will assure compliance with applicable federal law and regulations. The department may ascertain and determine for record and in making its order what volume of water actually flows in all streams, and the high and low water marks of lakes and other waters of the state, affected by the waste disposal or pollution of any persons. The department may promulgate rules and issue orders restricting the polluting content of any waste material or polluting substance discharged or sought to be discharged into any lake, river, stream, or other waters of the state. The department shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any pollution the department considers to be unreasonable and against public interest in view of the existing conditions in any lake, river, stream, or other waters of the state.

History: 1994, Act 451, Eff. Mar. 30, 1995

PopularName Notes:

Act 451

PopularName Notes:

NREPA

AdminRule Notes:

    R 323.1001 et seq. and R 323.2101 et seq. of the Michigan Administrative Code.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2004–2024 · leading case: Michigan Farm Bureau v. Dep't of Env't Quality, 807 N.W.2d 866 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).
Michigan Farm Bureau v. Dep't of Env't Quality, 807 N.W.2d 866 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 12× “3103 and MCL 324.3106, and that these sections authorized it “to establish permit requirements that are more stringent and have greater specificity than [the] federal regulations.”
Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. Dep't of Env't Quality, 856 N.W.2d 394 (Mich. Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 2× “” MCL 324.3106. Section 3112(1) states that “[a] person shall not discharge any waste or waste effluent into the waters of this state unless the person is in possession of a valid permit from the department.”
City of Brighton v. Twp. of Hamburg, 677 N.W.2d 349 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 3× “] MCL 324.3106 grants the DEQ authority to establish pollution control standards and to issue permits for point source discharges into the waters of the state: The department shall establish pollution standards for lakes, rivers, streams, and other waters of the state in…”
Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. Dep't of Env't Quality, 856 N.W.2d 252 (Mich. Ct. App. 2014). “3103(1); MCL 324.3106; MCL 324. 3112(1) and (3). As noted in the companion case, these statutory provisions collectively set forth avenues for the DEQ to arrive at a single final decision on a permit application.”
Michigan Farm Bureau v. Dept of Env't Great Lakes & Energy (Mich. 2024). · cites it 5× “8 In particular, MCL 324.3106 requires EGLE to ensure that any permit issued “will assure compliance with state standards to regulate municipal, industrial, and commercial discharges or storage of any substance that may affect the quality of the waters of the state,” and it…”
Michigan Farm Bureau v. Dept of Env't Great Lakes & Energy (Mich. Ct. App. 2022). · cites it 2× “3103(1) nor MCL 324.3106 allowed EGLE to make general policy determinations that go “beyond existing state or federal regulations.”
Michigan Dep't of Env't, Great Lakes & Energy v. STS Hydropower, LLC (W.D. Mich. 2022). · cites it 2× “” Section 324.3106 allows the State to “set permit restrictions that will assure compliance with applicable federal law and regulations.”
Dep't of Env't Quality v. Worth Twp., 829 N.W.2d 31 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012). · cites it 2× “” MCL 324.3106. Additionally, NREPA empowers the DEQ to “take all appropriate steps to prevent any pollution the department considers to be unreasonable and against public interest.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.