Representatives from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the City of Grand Island are planning an information session on June 23 to meet with the public and present information regarding groundwater issues in the east Grand Island area. The information session will be held at the Grand Island City Hall, 100 E. First Street.

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is inviting proposals for source water protection projects. Approximately $100,000 in grant funding is available to political subdivisions that operate a public water system serving a population of 10,000 or less.

Assistance has been available since 2003, when money set aside from the State Revolving Loan Fund became available to provide grants for source water protection projects. Most source water protection activities that address drinking water quality, quantity, security, and/or education are eligible for grant funding.

The Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel, as provided in Nebraska Revised Statute 81-1505.03, will meet in open session at 10:30 a..m. June 29th at Duster's, 2804 13th St., Columbus.

A current agenda for the meeting will be kept at the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. Contact Joe Francis at (402) 471-6974 with questions regarding the meeting or if special accommodations or alternate format of materials are needed. TDD users call 711 and ask the relay operator to call (402) 471-2186.

Below is a copy of the meeting agenda:

Agenda

The Air Update Workshops will provide the attendee updates on current air quality regulations and issues. We encourage anyone working with air quality regulations to attend.

To register for the workshops, go to:

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Swan Creek 5A Lake near Tobias in Saline County. This is the first health alert issued for the 2010 season. Weekly sampling has been conducted at 46 public lakes in Nebraska since the beginning of May.

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Johnson Lake in Gosper County, and an alert continues at Swan Creek Lake 5A near Tobias in Saline County, which was first placed on alert last week.

Omaha -- Citizens and environmental stakeholders in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area will be engaged to reduce ozone in agreements signed by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agreements were signed July 6 during a news conference at the Omaha City Council Chambers.

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Red Willow Reservoir in Frontier County, and an alert continues at Johnson Lake in Gosper County, which was first placed on alert last week. A health alert has ended at Swan Creek Lake 5A near Tobias in Saline County.

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Mike Linder today announced the awarding of $1,442,902 in grants for waste reduction and recycling projects. The grants are available through the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Grant Fund. This fund is generated by a fee on solid waste disposed of in landfills (disposal fee), an annual retail business sales fee (business fee), and a fee assessed on the sale of new tires for motor vehicles (tire fee). Tire fee grants totaling $1 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in June.

The state has discontinued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Johnson Lake in Gosper County, after the lake had two consecutive weeks of low readings for toxic blue-green algae.