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Great Lakes
Article:
EPA Awards Wisconsin $225,000 to Monitor
State's Great Lakes Beaches
Press Release
Posted on US Newswire on June 7, 2005
To: State Desk, Environment Reporter
Contact: Phillippa Cannon of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Region 5, 312-353-6218
CHICAGO, June 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Region 5 has awarded Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources $225,000 to monitor bacteria in water
at beaches on Lakes Michigan and Superior. EPA is making
almost $10 million in grants available nationwide to eligible
states to protect public health at the nation's beaches.
"EPA congratulates Wisconsin on being the first
state in the Great Lakes region to submit its grant application
again this year, demonstrating its continued commitment
to protecting the health of its citizens," said Acting
Regional Administrator Bharat Mathur. "Now in its
fourth year, this grants program has enabled Wisconsin
to substantially increase the number of Great Lakes beaches
it monitors from six to 123."
The grant will help the state develop more efficient
monitoring methods and provide timely information to the
public about when it may not be safe to swim because of
high levels of bacteria in the water. When bacteria levels
are too high, there is a greater risk of people becoming
sick and local beach managers post warnings or close the
beach.
Congress passed the BEACH Act in October 2000. It authorizes
EPA to award grants to help eligible states, tribes and
territories monitor beaches on coastal waters including
the Great Lakes. These grants also support programs to
inform the public about the risk of exposure to disease-causing
microorganisms.
Wisconsin's public information program includes signs
in English, Spanish and Hmong posted at beaches to notify
the public whether coastal recreational waters are expected
to meet water quality standards. To make up-to-date information
on beach conditions easily available to the public, the
state developed a statewide, toll-free telephone service,
an automatic e-mail subscription service that provides
daily updates on beach conditions, and a state beach health
Web page ( http://www.wibeaches.us. ) It also set up an
internal Web site for health departments to report their
daily advisory and monitoring data in the format required
by EPA.
DOOR COUNTY MONITORING
During the summer of 2004, Wisconsin used part of its
BEACH grant to monitor 27 beaches in Door County, a popular
tourist destination with 250 miles of shoreline and a
large number of public beaches. The Door County Soil and
Water Conservation Department leveraged the grant to acquire
additional funding to pay samplers and analysts to monitor
E. coli concentrations at selected beaches, near outfalls
and after heavy rain. It also conducted DNA testing of
about 1,000 samples of E. coli to determine whether it
came from bird or human waste in order to better identify
sources of beach water contamination.
For more information about the water quality at beaches,
local protection programs and other beach-related activities,
go to: http://www.epa.gov/beacheshttp://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches
http://www.usnewswire.com/
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