This grant funding supports virginia department of health's (VDH) beach advisory program and its primary goal of reducing the risk of waterborne illness for primary contact recreational swimmers in…

This $291,000 federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Beach Monitoring and Notification Program Implementation Grants (CFDA 66.472) supports the Virginia Department of Health's (VDH) beach advisory program. The primary goal is to reduce the risk of waterborne illness for recreational swimmers in Virginia's coastal waters.

Under this program, VDH will perform weekly water quality sampling and monitoring, analyze the results, and communicate findings to local health officials. VDH will also issue beach advisories and closures if critical water quality thresholds are exceeded. The data will be shared with the public via an official website and reported to the EPA. The grant also supports knowledge sharing for field staff via conference calls. Subrecipients, such as laboratories, will be paid by VDH districts to conduct water sample quality analysis. The anticipated outcomes include generating and disseminating weekly water quality data, engaging with the local community on recreation risks, and producing an annual water quality summary report for the EPA.

This grant funding supports virginia department of health's (VDH) beach advisory program and its primary goal of reducing the risk of waterborne illness for primary contact recreational swimmers in virginia's coastal waters. Under this program VDH will perform routine beach monitoring, and water quality sampling and analysis. VDH will also inform the public of sample results and associated risks of recreation.activities:the activities to be performed include weekly water quality sampling and monitoring, analysis of sampling results and communication of findings to local health officials, and the issuance of beach advisories and closures if critical water quality thresholds are exceeded. The data will be shared with the public via an official website and will also be communicated to the EPA. Knowledge sharing for field staff in the beach monitoring program will occur via conference calls.subrecipient:districts pay these funds to laboratories to perform water sample quality analysis among other tasks.outcomes:anticipated outcomes include but are not limited to the generation of weekly water quality data that will be shared with the public to support safe recreational practices, engagement with the local community about recreation risks via notifications and interaction with beach monitoring program staff, and the creation of a water quality summary report that will be shared with EPA. Expected beneficiaries are recreational swimmers in virginia's coastal waters.