Deadline for state money to test beaches approaching

By CHAO YAN
Capital News Service
LANSING —The state is offering $200,000 to help local agencies monitor water quality in inland lakes this summer. Localities and nonprofit groups have until Feb. 28 to apply for Department of Environmental Quality grants to measure levels of E.coli — a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea, severe anemia or kidney failure — off inland beaches, according to Shannon Briggs, a program director in DEQ’s Water Resources Division. Michigan is currently keeping watch on about 380 inland lakes, about half of the state’s total. Water quality data helps officials determine if a lake is safe for swimming.