GLIN==> Cities Respond to NRDC Testing the Water Report

GREAT LAKES AND ST. LAWRENCE CITIES INITIATIVE

RESPONSE TO NRDC'S TESTING THE WATERS REPORT - JULY 29, 2009

 

The National Resource Defense Council's annual Testing the Waters report
continues to help keep the spotlight on the important issue of clean
beaches and safe recreational water.  While Testing the Waters focuses
primarily on tracking beach closings and advisories, it is important to
take note of progress and action being taken by local government on
beach management within the Great Lakes region.  

 

"Cities around the Great Lakes understand best the importance of clean,
safe and swimmable beaches." said Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities
Initiative Executive Director David Ullrich.  "Beaches are not only
important to the economic health of the region but are also the primary
access points to natural habitat and affordable recreation for many in
urban settings.  When a beach is closed, we all lose out."

 

Mayors of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative have long
advocated for better, more rapid test methods, an appropriate indicator
organism, and improvements to the recreational water quality standard.
We fully expect US EPA to deliver on these by the 2012 deadline.  In the
meantime, many cities like Racine, WI, Chicago, IL, Milwaukee, WI and
Ajax, ON are using tools like the EPA standardized sanitary survey to
identify sources of contamination at their beaches and remediate them.
Racine's North Beach, for instance, went from a 66% closure rate in the
year 2000 to less than 5% in the last four beach seasons as a result of
beach management measures such as sand grooming and constructed
wetlands.

 

Through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Clean Beaches Initiative,
the Great Lakes Beach Association, the International Joint Commission's
Water Quality Board, and the efforts of communities around the Great
Lakes, action is being taken to improve our beaches.  For example, local
governments in the United States and Canada invest more than $15 billion
annually in Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River protection and
restoration activities, $235 million of which is spent on ecosystem
protection and restoration efforts.

 

We are hopeful there will be continued progress with help from proposed
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding for sanitary surveys,
predictive modeling, and nearshore health, and with the passage of the
Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act of 2009 which
contemplates increased funding and allows for flexibility in the use of
BEACH Act grants to include sanitary surveys, rapid test methods, and
remediation.  Furthermore, federal support through the Clean Water State
Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund is critical to
keep our aging water and wastewater infrastructure maintained and
operating properly, which will reduce beach closures.

 

Cities around the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River look forward to
continuing to work with states, provinces, the U.S. and Canadian federal
governments, stakeholders and citizens to ensure the beaches of the
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence remain clean, safe, swimmable, and open for
all to enjoy.

 

For more information, please contact Melissa Soline at 312-201-4517 or
melissa.soline at glslcities.org. 

 

 

Melissa A. Soline

Program Manager

Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative

177 North State Street, Suite 500

Chicago, Illinois 60601

Phone 312.201.4517

Fax 312.553.4355

melissa.soline at glslcities.org <mailto:melissa.arjomand at glslcities.org> 

www.glslcities.org <http://www.glslcities.org>  

 

 

 

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