Nome Eskimo Community is the latest recipient of a Clean Water Actions Grant from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The more than twenty-five-thousand-dollars was awarded to test the water quality of beaches outside Nome.
Clean Water Action Grants are awarded to projects that serve waters needing to be restored and waters that are at-risk. But Nome isn’t at-risk or in need of renovation, yet. Mike Sloan, the NEC Tribal Resources Director, says the current level of activity at the beach doesn’t seem to warrant concern. But if something does go wrong, having samples will help track the contamination levels.
Sloan says the two areas the NEC has identified are Middle Beach and East Beach. The beaches were prime locations because they’re close to the harbor and are used recreationally by families for swimming.
Nome Eskimo Community will sample the water around Middle and East beach for fecal coliform bacteria levels. Fecal coliform bacteria appear in human waste. Found in dangerous quantities, it could cause a health hazard for recreational users of the beach. Sloan says families would be affected most by high levels of fecal bacteria. “It wouldn’t affect other activities,” says Sloan, “it specifically would affect other recreational activities (for) families using the beach, like swimming. Those sorts of activities.”
NEC will not start sampling until June of next year. If samples do come back showing high levels of contamination, Sloan says Nome Eskimo Community will work with the city to alert residents.
