Echo
Bill seeks to bolster beach monitoring and accelerate public awareness
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Great Lakes beaches will have more strict, comprehensive monitoring and faster public warnings of contamination if two U.S. Senators have their way.
Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/index.php?s=beach+monitoring&x=0&y=0)
Great Lakes beaches will have more strict, comprehensive monitoring and faster public warnings of contamination if two U.S. Senators have their way.
The International Joint Commission recently highlighted the need for consistent beach monitoring throughout the Great Lakes region.
(MI) Bay City Times – Fourteen agencies have been awarded more than $187,000 in state Water Quality Monitoring grants to assist with inland beach water quality monitoring for the 2009 and 2010 swimming seasons. The recipients include: The Central Michigan District Health Department, which received $22,424 to monitor 20 local beaches and three state park beaches in Arenac, Clare, Gladwin, Isabella, Osceola and Roscommon counties; and the District Health Department No. 2, which received $24,697 to monitor 10 local beaches, two state park beaches and one Department of Natural Resources access site in Alcona, Iosco, Ogemaw and Oscoda counties. More
By Amalia Medina
A green flag flying on a Great Lakes beach does not necessarily mean it’s safe to swim. Checking beach monitoring websites like BeachGuard is not a surefire solution either. These two findings are central to a public health research project, the Great Lakes Microbial Water Quality Assessment, that set out to measure microbial and chemical threats in Great Lakes waters, and how to reduce the number of illnesses they cause each year. A report from the project, sponsored by the International Joint Commission said decades-old testing methods are inadequate and “advances in newer methods are critically needed.” The commission is bi-national agency that advises the U.S. and Canada on managing water along the border. The need for such research is considered urgent.
As lakes and rivers cool with the arrival of fall, avid swimmers may be at risk for illnesses due to contact with contaminated water.
That’s because of a health threat from Escherichia coli – familiarly known as E. coli.
Global warming will produce more frequent high rainfall events in the Upper Great Lakes, which could impact sandy beaches used for recreation.
The state of Michigan is offering grant money to fund monitoring inland beaches this summer.
Even after all of the snow Michigan received this winter is gone and melted, it could still find a way to impact people’s summer plans.
Beach closure data shows improvement in the short term. A recent study of sediments indicate that in the longterm water quality has declined.
Michigan received $152,000 in federal grants in 2014 to monitor the cleanliness of its lakes and beaches.
That’s more than $200,000 less than the state was allotted in 2013.