This agreement funds the recipient's beach monitoring program for the upcoming swimming season, including meeting performance criteria established by federal beach act to remain eligible for the beach…

The Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 awarded the Texas General Land Office a $386,000 project grant under the Beach Monitoring and Notification Program Implementation Grants (CFDA 66.472) beginning September 1, 2022 through December 31, 2024. The grant funds the recipient's beach monitoring program for the upcoming swimming season, including meeting performance criteria to remain eligible for beach grants under the Federal Beach Act. Specifically, the grant will support bacteria monitoring at designated recreational beaches in nine Texas counties to test water quality and notify the public when bacteria thresholds are exceeded. The sub-awardee County of Nueces will collect and analyze water samples from beaches in its county as part of this effort. The anticipated outcomes are submission of water quality data and public notifications to the EPA, along with an annual summary report. The program aims to reduce swimmer illness by informing the public about water quality so they can make safe decisions on beach attendance.

This agreement funds the recipient's beach monitoring program for the upcoming swimming season, including meeting performance criteria established by federal beach act to remain eligible for the beach grant. IT will fund the recipient's efforts to monitor water quality at designated recreational beaches in texas and to notify the public when the waters exceed the beach notification threshold for bacteria. Activities:the monitoring and notification program will consist of bacteriological water quality monitoring at recreational bathing beaches, public notification and risk communication of the sample results, measures to notify EPA, and a public evaluation component. The grantee will notify the public of a water quality exceedance by issuing an advisory or closure. This program will be consistent with national beach guidance published at the time of grant award.subrecipient:sub-awardees will collect and analyze water samples for enterococcus bacteria at 100 percent of the tier 1 coastal contact recreational beaches in aransas, brazoria, cameron, galveston, harris, jefferson, nueces, matagorda counties and a tier 3 recreational beach in SAN patricio county. Subawards will begin on september 1, 2022, for a period of 12 months.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include submissions of water quality monitoring data and public notification actions and an annual summary report. The objective of the program is to reduce swimmer illness by providing the public with bacteriological information so they can make informed decisions about which beaches to attend. Beneficiaries of the program include all residents and tourists that visit the beaches for the state of texas.