[미국] 대규모 호수 복원 계획 기금 모금

2014년 9월 4일 미국 워싱턴에서 대규모 호수 복원 계획(GLRI)이 환경보존과 국민의 건강보호를 위해 이리 호 서쪽에서 발생한 유해한 조류 증식(HABs) 기금으로 약 1천2백만 달러를 연방과 주 단체에 수여했다고 발표했다.

기금은 조류를 줄이려는 GLRI의 노력이자, 최근 오하이오 Toledo에 발생한 물 위기로 인한 이유도 있다. 기금은 미국 지질학 연구회(USGS), 자연자원 보호서비스, 국가 해양대기기관(NOAA)뿐만 아니라 미국 오하이오, 미시건, 인디애나 주 단체에서 사용될 계획이다.

새 2014 기금은 식수 관리 공장 운영자들과 해변 관리자들이 HABs에 연관되어 건강상의 문제를 최소화할 수 있도록 돕기 위한 모니터링과 예측 확장, 이리 호 지류에 있는 인(P)에 대한 측정 향상 등에 사용될 예정이다.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) will provide almost $12 million to federal and state agencies to target harmful algal blooms (HABs) in western Lake Erie, better preserving the environment and protecting public health as a result.

The funding builds upon the GLRI's ongoing efforts to reduce algal blooms and comes in light of the recent water crisis in the city of Toledo, Ohio, that occurred in early August (see "Toledo water resources contaminated by toxin from algae in Lake Erie").

The funding will be made available to Ohio, Michigan and Indiana state agencies, as well as to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The new FY 2014 funding will be used to:

Expand monitoring and forecasting to help drinking water treatment plant operators and beach managers minimize health impacts associated with HABs
Increase incentives for farmers in western Lake Erie watersheds to reduce phosphorus runoff that contributes to HABs
Improve measurement of phosphorus loads in Lake Erie tributaries

Toledo issued a "Do Not Drink" order for almost 500,000 people in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan when a drinking water treatment plant was adversely impacted by Microcystin, a toxin produced in connection with HAB outbreaks on Lake Erie. In addition to generating toxins that pose risks to human health, HABs create low oxygen "dead zones" and harm shoreline economies.

On August 13, EPA Regional Administrator, Susan Hedman, convened a meeting of federal and state agencies to identify opportunities for collaboration to minimize HAB-related risks in the western Lake Erie Basin. The GLRI funding targets immediate needs identified during that meeting. The group will continue to focus resources on this issue in FY 2015 and beyond.

The GLRI was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world. GLRI resources are used to strategically target the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem and to accelerate progress toward long-term goals which includes eliminating harmful algal blooms.

Under the initial GLRI Action Plan, GLRI resources doubled the acreage enrolled in agricultural conservation programs in the western Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay and Green Bay watersheds where nutrient runoff contributes to HABs. Under the new GLRI Action Plan, which covers 2015-2019, projects to reduce nutrient loads from these agricultural watersheds will continue. Watershed management and green infrastructure projects to reduce untreated runoff from urban watersheds will also continue.

 

[출처 = Water World / 2014년 9월 4일]