The Regional Commission has been involved with natural resources and water quality planning since its inception in 1970. The Commission is the federally designated area-wide water quality management planning agency for the region, as provided for under the Clean Water Act.

The Regional Commission provides a number of services to local governments, which include:

• Maintenance of the region's Area-wide Water Quality Management Plan.
• Review and comment of wastewater expansion and other public noticed water quality improvement projects, for consistency with regional plans and programs.
• Preparation of specialized water resource and watershed projects. (Special Note: A Commission prepared non-point source water quality report was nationally acclaimed and cited on the front page of USA Today.)
• Liaison to local governments and watershed and conservation partners in the region.
• West Michigan Regional Watershed Conference in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Lake Michigan Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP).