Great Lakes WATER Institute worked concurrently at the GLWI and have provided large engineering contributions to the Great Lakes Urban Coastal Observing System (GLUCOS). Great Lakes WATER Institute Great Lakes WATER Institute (also known as the WATER Institute, Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research Institute, GLWI) is a freshwater research center of the University of Wisconsin System administered by the Graduate School of University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Located on Milwaukee's inner harbor, it is the only major aquatic research institution located on Lake Michigan and the largest of its kind in the Great Lakes region. The WATER Institute is both a UW-Milwaukee Center of Excellence
History of Milwaukee in the Great Lakes "rust belt," Milwaukee saw the loss of blue collar jobs and the phenomenon of "white flight." The construction of Milwaukee's interstate highway system, beginning in 1964 with the completion of its first seven miles of I-94, heralded an age of greater decentralization, as southeastern Wisconsin suburbs continued to proliferate along interstate corridors, providing an alternative to crowded city living. Nevertheless, a backlash against the freeway in the late 1960s and early 1970s virtually ground Milwaukee's freeway construction to a halt, leaving the city with about 50% of the highways recommended by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning