EPA Makes Grants Available to States to Implement Water Quality
Monitoring and Public Notification Programs at the Nation's Beaches
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency |
Office of Water
4303 |
EPA-823-F-03-002
March 2003 |
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Summary
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making $9.935 million
in grants available in 2003 to eligible states to protect public
health at the Nation's beaches. These grants are available to
coastal and Great Lakes states to implement programs to monitor
water quality at the beach and to notify the public when water
quality problems exist.
Background
Each year state, tribal, and local health and environmental protection
agencies monitor the quality of water at the Nation's beaches.
When bacteria levels in the water are too high, these agencies
notify the public of beach warnings or closings. State and local
monitoring and notification programs differ across the country
and provide different levels of protection for swimmers.
To improve water quality testing at the beach and to help beach
managers better inform the public when there are water quality
problems, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment
and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) in October 2000. This Act authorizes
EPA to award grants to eligible states, tribes, and territories
to develop and implement beach water quality monitoring programs
at coastal and Great Lakes recreational waters near beaches. These
grants also support the development and implementation of programs
to inform the public about the risk of exposure to disease-causing
microorganisms in the waters at the Nation=s beaches.
Funding
In 2003, EPA expects to award about $9.935 million in grants
to eligible states and territories for beach program implementation.
Once EPA receives all applications for funding, EPA will award
grants to eligible states and territories. For this third year
of the BEACH Grants, EPA expects to award grants based on an allocation
formula to all eligible states and territories who apply. EPA
consulted with various states and the Coastal States Organization
in 2002 to develop this formula, which considers three factors:
1) length of beach season, 2) miles of beach and 3) number of
people that use the beach. EPA used the same formula a was used
in 2002 but updated it to use the 2000 Census data instead of
the 1990 Census data to estimate coastal population because it
is the more current information.
Based on this allocation formula, the size of the Implementation
Grant Award ranges from $149,025 to $544,552 if all 35 eligible
states and territories apply. EPA expects all 35 eligible governments
to apply. If fewer apply or qualify for the grants, then EPA will
redistribute available funds to states and as follows:
- States that meet program performance
criteria published by EPA in June 2002 (EPA-823-B-02-004)
will receive the full amount of funds for which they qualify
under the allocation formula.
- EPA may award grants for continued program development to
states that have not met the performance criteria. These grants
will help them meet the performance criteria for implementation
grants. Therefore, we expect that funding levels for continued
program development grants will be lower than the amount described
in 1. above.
- EPA may award program implementation grants to local governments
in states that have not met the requirements for program implementation.
- EPA may use the grant allocation formula to make additional
funds available for implementation grants to states that have
met the performance criteria.
If all 35 eligible states and territories apply and meet the
performance criteria, the distribution of the $ 9.935 million
in funds for year 2003 will be:
For the state or territory of: |
The year 2003 allocation is: |
For the state or territory of: |
The year 2003 allocation is: |
Alabama |
$261,514 |
Mississippi |
$256,481 |
Alaska |
$149,025 |
New Hampshire |
$203,594 |
American Samoa |
$300,364 |
New Jersey |
$282,586 |
California |
$532,164 |
New York |
$359,215 |
Connecticut |
$223,921 |
North Carolina |
$305,007 |
Delaware |
$210,299 |
Northern Mariana Is. |
$301,648 |
Florida |
$544,552 |
Ohio |
$224,227 |
Georgia |
$287,442 |
Oregon |
$229,757 |
Guam |
$300,860 |
Pennsylvania |
$223,012 |
Hawaii |
$322,897 |
Puerto Rico |
$328,757 |
Illinois |
$245,043 |
Rhode Island |
$212,340 |
Indiana |
$204,963 |
South Carolina |
$298,726 |
Louisiana |
$380,052 |
Texas |
$387,508 |
Maine |
$257,766 |
U.S. Virgin Is. |
$301,483 |
Maryland |
$273,429 |
Virginia |
$281,693 |
Massachusetts |
$257,453 |
Washington |
$274,585 |
Michigan |
$283,360 |
Wisconsin |
$225,970 |
Minnesota |
$203,309 |
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How Long Will the Funding and Project Periods Last?
The expected funding and project period for Implementation Grants
awarded in 2003 is one year. In future years, EPA may award more
grants to eligible states, tribes, territories and local governments
to support the development and implementation of monitoring and
notification programs.
Who Is Eligible to Apply?
States and territories eligible for the BEACH grants are states
that have coastal and Great Lakes recreational waters adjacent
to beaches or similar points of access used by the public. Under
the BEACH Act, EPA can also award grants to eligible tribes. To
receive BEACH Act grants, tribes must have coastal recreation
waters. (These are waters designated under Clean Water Act Section
303(c) for use for swimming, bathing, surfing or similar water
contact activities). A tribe must also meet the "treatment
in the same manner as a state" criteria under CWA section
518(e) to receive BEACH Act grant funds. EPA believes there are
currently no tribes that have met these requirements for BEACH
Act grant funding.
In July 2002, EPA published the National
Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants
(document number EPA-823-B-02-004) which explains the requirements
for states, tribes, and local governments to qualify for these
grants. You can find this document on EPA's website at http://epa.gov/beaches.
You can also get the guidance by writing or calling the Office
of Water Resources Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Mail Code 4100T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
20460. (202-566-1731) or by sending an e-mail to: center.water-resource@epa.gov.
The BEACH Act authorizes EPA to give a grant to a local government
for implementation of a monitoring and notification program only
if EPA determines that the state is not meeting the requirements
of the statute one year after EPA publishes performance criteria
for beach programs. EPA published performance criteria in July
19, 2002. Therefore, July 19, 2003, is the earliest date a local
government would be eligible for beach grants, given that its
state is not meeting the requirements of the statute. A local
government may apply for funding to help them develop and implement
a beach monitoring and notification program that is consistent
with EPA performance criteria.
How Does a State or Territory Apply?
Eligible states and territories may get an application from their
regional EPA beach contact. These contacts are listed in the Federal
Register Notice of Availability for the BEACH grants, which is
available on EPA's Beach Watch web site at http://epa.gov/beaches.
For More Information
For more information on the BEACH grants, please contact your
EPA Regional beach program representative or Charles Kovatch at
202-5660399 (kovatch.charles@epa.gov).
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