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Water Headlines for June 2, 2008Benjamin H. Grumbles Water Headlines is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water. In This Week’s Water Headlines:
Improved Monitoring and Prevention Keeping Beachgoers Better ProtectedEnvironmental Protection Agency's 2007 Swimming Season Update shows state and territorial beach water quality managers are improving monitoring and prevention, and beaches were open for use 95 percent of beach days in 2007. "We're all doing more to prevent pollution, monitor water quality, and protect public health at America's beaches and this report reflects the progress, as well as the continuing challenges," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. "EPA is strengthening the science and increasing public awareness to help state and local partners reduce upstream stormwater pollution and downstream beach closures." During the 2007 swimming season, some beaches were restricted because of contamination-related closings, but most beaches that did have closings were closed for less than two days. Beach days are those counted during the beach season for a given area. Many beaches are open seasonally, although beach days may be counted for most or all of a calendar year in warmer areas. Beach contamination is often from stormwater running off streets, fields, forests, and other sources. EPA and its state partners are continuing solid progress in collecting and reporting data which provides a good picture of water quality conditions at our nation's beaches. EPA is also working with its partners to develop and use tools to identify and reduce beach pollution. The EPA BEACH Grant program has made available $71 million to 35 coastal and Great Lakes states and territories since the passage of the BEACH Act in 2000. The funding level for beach monitoring is $9.75 million this year. Coastal and Great Lakes states and territories report beach monitoring and notification data to EPA on their coastal recreation waters EPA maintains an electronic monitoring and notification database, and provides states and territories with BEACH Act grants for monitoring and reporting their beach information to EPA. The information submitted by coastal states and territories to EPA regarding beach closings and advisories is reflected in the annual Swimming Season Update. This same information is available to the public. EPA beach research centers on new and ongoing activities meant to establish benchmarks, explore emerging technologies and refine methodology. Each of these actions is focused on preventing the pollution that can make the beaches and waters unsafe:
More information: EPA: New Tool Will Help Keep More Great Lakes Beaches OpenU.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made a new tool available that will help keep more Great Lakes beaches open for swimming. The Great Lakes Beach Sanitary Survey Tool is designed help beach managers identify sources of bacterial contamination at their beaches so they can address them. It was developed and piloted at beaches around the Great Lakes but can be effective at any beach. Many Great Lakes beach managers have said they will use the survey at their beaches this summer. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and this new national clean water tool will help beach managers be pollution detectives upstream to prevent beach closures downstream," said Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles. This tool was developed as a result of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration's efforts to identify sources of contamination at Great Lakes beaches. EPA provided a grant of $525,000 to test the effectiveness of the tool at 61 beaches around the Great Lakes - including North Beach in Racine --- during the summer of 2007. A beach sanitary survey is an evaluation of the beach area and surrounding watershed for existing and potential sources of pollution. Information collected may include the number of birds at a beach, slope of the beach, location and condition of bathrooms, amount of algae present, location of storm water outfalls and soundness of residential septic tanks. EPA also announced a $222,240 grant to Wisconsin to monitor its Great Lakes beaches and provide information to the public. Beach water monitoring enables beach managers to better protect public health. When bacteria concentrations reach unsafe levels, beaches are closed or advisories are issued. The grant is part of $9.5 million awarded to 35 coastal states, tribes and territories nationwide in 2008. This is the eighth year grants are being made available since Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health BEACH Act in October 2000. EPA estimates Americans make 910 million trips to coastal areas each year, spending about $44 billion. A decade ago, state and local monitoring and notification programs differed across the country. These grants are designed to consistently protect and inform the public before swimming.
More information: Subscribe to Water HeadlinesPlease forward this message to your friends and colleagues who share an interest in water-related issues and would like to hear from EPA’s Office of Water. To subscribe to the Water Headlines listserve: Send an email message, leave the subject line blank, and address it to: In the body of the message write: Subscribe Water Headlines first name last name (Please leave one blank space between each word, do not include any other message, and use your actual name- i.e. Subscribe Water Headlines Robert Jones)
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