Water Quality Monitoring Grants Awarded

The Department of Environmental Quality awarded eight Water Quality Monitoring grants today, totaling $284,715, to assist universities, local governments, and nonprofit organizations to monitor the quality of Michigan's waters.

The recipients of the funding announced today are:

- Grand Valley State University - Annis Water Resources Institute was awarded $39,048 to conduct benthic macroinvertebrate community monitoring in White Lake (Muskegon County), an Area of Concern. The data will be used to support the White Lake Public Advisory Council's efforts to remove the Degradation of Benthos Beneficial Use Impairment

- The Chippewa County Health Department was awarded $19,000 to conduct E. coli monitoring of the St. Marys River to evaluate water quality conditions and to identify potential sources of contamination.

- Huron Pines was awarded $12,880 to monitor the effectiveness of Best Management Practices in Silver Creek (Presque Isle County), a tributary to the Ocqueoc River.

- The Macatawa Area Coordinating Council was awarded $32,158 to develop a method to directly sample suspended sediments in the Macatawa watershed.

- Scientists at Michigan State University were awarded $23,680 to sample Grand Traverse Bay beaches, storm drains, and Mitchell Creek for viruses, parasites, bacteria, and source tracking markers.

- Public Health Muskegon County was awarded $46,500 to measure the occurrence of cyanobacteria, a blue-green algae, and associated toxins in three Muskegon County lakes (Bear, Muskegon, and Mona) and to assess the impact of algicide application on toxin levels.

- Grand Valley State University - Annis Water Resources Institute was awarded $50,346 to determine the frequency and distribution of hybrid Eurasian Watermilfoil in 50 Michigan lakes, and whether reported reductions in control effectiveness of Eurasian Watermilfoil are associated with hybrid lineages.

- Michigan Technological University was awarded $61,103 to evaluate the impact of zebra/quagga mussels in Saginaw Bay on phosphorus availability in the water column and associated Cladophora growth.

Funding for these grants was made available through the Clean Michigan Initiative-Clean Water Fund.

Additional information on this program is available by contacting Ms. Kay Edly in the Surface Water Assessment Section of the DEQ's Water Bureau at 517-373-4633.

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Editor's note: DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

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