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Great Lakes
Article:
EPA Commits
$1,380,000 to Protect Great Lakes Beaches
PRNewswire
Published January 12, 2006
CHICAGO, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Six states with Great
Lakes shoreline (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
Ohio and Wisconsin) are eligible to share $1,380,380 to
protect beaches. In a notice published in the Federal
Register on Jan. 11, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced that the money will be available to the states
for beach water quality monitoring and public notification
programs.
Since 2001, EPA has provided nearly $52 million under
the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health
Act (BEACH) of 2000 to states and territories with shorelines
along the nation's ocean coasts or around the Great Lakes.
The grants were announced in January to get a jump on
the 2006 beach season. States must submit their grant
proposals by April 11.
Beach water monitoring enables beach managers to better
protect public health. When bacteria concentrations reach
unsafe levels, beaches are closed or advisories are issued.
In addition, as part of the Clean Beaches Plan, EPA is
working on new technologies that will provide faster test
results, enabling local health agencies to determine more
quickly if a beach should be open for swimming.
In addition to monitoring, Great Lakes states have used
past grants for activities that provide better beach information
to the public, such as beach health brochures, telephone
hot lines, posting up-to-date information on beach closings
on Web sites and posting warning signs at beaches in multiple
languages.
The BEACH Act of 2000 requires coastal states and territories
to adopt up- to-date pathogen criteria to protect beach-goers
from harmful bacteria. More information is available at:
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/grants
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