ORLEANS – The Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded a $275,000 grant to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to support water quality monitoring at public beaches as part of a nationwide program to protect public health.
$10.6 million in total was given to coastal and Great Lakes communities to support monitoring efforts and public notification programs at public beaches.
Orleans’ Skaket Beach was recently closed to swimming due to high bacteria levels, following a busy July during which the Department of Public Health reported that 78 state beaches were closed for unsafe swimming conditions.
“With so many each closures across New England this summer, people want to know ‘where can I go swimming in clean water?’,” said David W. Cash, the EPA’s New England Regional Administrator.
“Today’s grant will advance environmental justice in communities vulnerable to and overburdened by water quality impacts by supporting critical monitoring and notification programs.”
“We will continue to work closely with our state, municipal and local partners to deliver information that people need to make good decisions about their health,” he said. “The results of monitoring can also help us enforce environmental laws and make investments, so beach closures become a thing of the past.”
Massachusetts received the largest such grant in New England, narrowly topping Maine, which received $272,000 in grant funding.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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