Institute Fellow Explores Water Security Ahead of Great Lakes Water Conference

Institute Fellow Explores Water Security Ahead of Great Lakes Water Conference

What is water security?

As Brenna Kilby has discovered in her first semester with the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes, there may be a better question.

What isn't water security?

"It's a lot of things," said Kilby, a second-year student in The University of Toledo College of Law. "It's a really wide umbrella."

Water security broadly means that there is enough clean water available for people to use while also supporting local ecosystems and economic production. So it encompasses a community's ability to protect its water supply from seemingly countless threats both natural and man-made.

As the 2025-26 Legal Institute of the Great Lakes Fellow, Kilby is digging into water security in support of UToledo's 25th annual Great Lakes Water Conference.

"Water Security and the Great Lakes Region," sponsored by Toledo Law and the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes, is a live webinar featuring seven national panelists on Friday, Oct. 31. Registration is required via the institute website by Wednesday, Oct. 29.

The Legal Institute of the Great Lakes is a distinctive offering within the College of Law. As a multidisciplinary research center established in 1993, the institute supports research, maintains publications and sponsors an annual conference on legal, economic and social issues of importance to the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada.

The institute introduced a fellowship last year, offering law students a unique opportunity for independent research under the direction of director Evan Zoldan.

That opportunity proved attractive to Kilby, of Frankenmuth, Michigan, who followed a long-standing interest in law to Toledo Law. She credits her father, an attorney, with introducing her to the legal field and thanks her parents for supporting her education.

She credits an undergraduate internship with cementing her interest in pursuing a career in the legal field herself. While studying political science and dance at Alma College, she spent a formative summer handling intake calls for Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands.

Today Kilby is interested in a career in criminal law, in line with her most recent summer internship with the Bay County Prosecutor's Office in Michigan, and values the opportunity to diversify her experiences through the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes Fellowship.

"I thought this would be a good way to branch out and learn about a new sector of law," Kilby said. "It's been a great opportunity."

Kilby is spending her first of two semesters as a fellow helping to coordinate the Great Lakes Water Conference, in addition to researching this year's topic for an article she'll submit to the Toledo Law Review, where she's a board member, as well as summaries she'll share through the institute's social media accounts.

These will explore natural and man-made threats to water security, ranging from climate change-induced natural disasters to the infrastructure breakdown that caused a public health crisis in Flint, Michigan, to emerging threats like the largely unregulated data centers that require significant amounts of water.

She's also digging into relevant case law like Sackett v. EPA and the recently overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Brenna's research and writing skills and commitment to the environmental integrity of the Great Lakes region make her an asset to the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes," said Zoldan, also the associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Law. "Through this fellowship, Brenna will have the opportunity to conduct research, help organize our annual water conference and otherwise help the institute with its mission to create and disseminate legal and policy research relevant to the Great Lakes region."

Kilby said she said she's learning a lot - and not just about water security.

"As a lawyer you have to be able to comprehend and synthesize what you're reading," she said. "This is a great opportunity to practice those skills through research."