Applications Open for Summer Beach Monitoring Grants

WASHINGTON, DC, May 4, 2004 (ENS) - The Bush administration has announced $10 million in grants to states, territories and tribes for beach monitoring and notification programs. The grants are intended to help meet the new requirements under the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000. About $32 million has been appropriated for this program since the act passed in October 2000.

"These grants help protect public health at America's beaches," said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Mike Leavitt. "The money we are making available today will go a long way to helping states in expanding their water quality monitoring and information programs that alert the public about potential health related problems in coastal recreational waters."

These funds are designed to ensure that the public receives better protection when traveling to various beaches across the country. The EPA estimates that Americans take a total of 910 million trips to coastal areas each year and spend about $44 million at those beach locations.

As part of the administration's overall Clean Beach Plan, the grant money is available to 35 eligible coastal states and territories based on the length of beach season, the miles of beach and the number of people who use that beach. In addition, money will be made available to eligible Indian tribes who apply.

On April 20, the administration announced its Clean Beaches strategy including a Clean Beaches Plan, grants to states for beach monitoring and notification programs, technical guidance, scientific studies and federal water quality standards in addition to state and territorial efforts where necessary.

The BEACH Act requires coastal states, including those bordering the Great Lakes, to adopt up-to-date pathogen criteria by April 10, 2004 to protect beach goers from harmful bacteria.

The Act provides that, if a state fails to meet this deadline, the EPA must promptly propose federal standards to protect that state's beaches.

To date, only 11 of the 35 affected states and territories have adopted up-to-date criteria for pathogens.

By June 30, EPA will propose Federal revised standards for pathogens for the states and territories that have not yet done so.

By July 31, EPA will propose updated technical guidance for more effective monitoring of pathogens at beaches. And by August 31, EPA will complete its report of beach closures and advisories for 2003.

Under the Clean Water Act, EPA issues criteria which serve as guidance to States in adopting standards. EPA issued criteria for e-coli and enterococci in 1986, but many States still rely on outdated standards for total or fecal coliforms.

EPA's research indicates that there is little correlation between coliform levels and swimming-related illness (gastroenteritis) in either marine or fresh waters. In contrast, correlations for e-coli - in fresh waters - and enterococci - in marine waters - are high, showing that these bacteria are reliable indicators for the presence of harmful pathogens.

Two top Bush administration officials have declared their support of the beaches program. In a letter to the EPA, Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Dr. John Graham, administrator of the White House Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), underlined their support of the agency's efforts to ensure protective water quality standards for beaches.

"The BEACH Act assigns EPA a vital role in promoting scientifically strong, defensible standards to protect our nation's beaches," noted CEQ Chairman Jim Connaughton.

"While we generally prefer for states to implement their own standards, we support EPA's commitment to fulfilling its oversight responsibility," said OIRA Administrator John Graham.

The Clean Beaches Plan and related documents including the 35 individual letters that EPA is sending to coastal states, is available at: http://www.epa.gov/beaches/plan.htm.