The 12th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference kicked off on Tuesday and a broad coalition wants both presidential candidates to support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has spurred nearly three thousand projects over the past seven years.

Gildo Tori is with Ducks Unlimited and he wants to see clear support for the Great Lakes noting the Flint water crisis highlights the need for clean-water investments

"And the Great Lakes are big picture – there's 30 million people who rely on them for drinking water and there's about a million and a half jobs that are directly connected to the Great Lakes. Anybody that's a president is going to realize, my goodness, this Great Lakes region can be really compared to its own state or country, in and of itself."

A 2016 poll of voters in Great Lakes states found more than six in ten strongly support continued funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

It also revealed voters would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate promising cuts to federal restoration funds.