July 1, 2009 -- The annual report summarizing Nebraska's ambient air quality, based on 2008 ambient air quality monitoring results, is now available on this web site. Go to
Nebraska Air Quality 2008

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Mike Linder today announced the awarding of $2,027,679 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 over $2.5 million for projects related to tire recycling were previously announced in May.

The state has issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Rockford Lake near Holmesville in Gage County.

Samples taken earlier this week at Rockford Lake were above the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion (ppb) of total Microcystins (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae.)

The state is continuing a health alert for toxic blue-green algae for Rockford Lake in Gage County, which was first placed on alert last week.

Although levels were below the threshold at Rockford Lake this week, a health alert remains in effect. Lakes that are on health alert must have two consecutive weeks of readings below 20 ppb before the alert is removed.

State-issued health alerts for toxic blue-green algae continue in effect at Rockford Lake (Gage County) and Kirkman's Cove Reservoir (Richardson County) joined the health alert list this week.

Samples taken earlier this week at both lakes were above the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion (ppb) of total Microcystins (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae). Rockford Lake tested below the limit last week after having been listed the previous week, but tested high again this week.

State-issued health alerts for toxic blue-green algae continue in effect at Rockford Lake (Gage County) and Kirkman's Cove Reservoir (Richardson County) this week.

Samples taken last week at both lakes were above the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion (ppb) of total Microcystins (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae). Rockford Lake and Kirkman’s Cove both tested below the 20 ppb mark this week, but remain on alert due to the results of last week’s testing.

The artwork of 13 Nebraska students will be featured in the 2010 “Nebraska: Don’t Waste It!” environmental calendar. The statewide contest is sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) and focuses on the importance of waste reduction, recycling and litter cleanup.

State-issued health alerts for toxic blue-green algae have been issued for Merritt Reservoir (Cherry County) and Bluestem Lake (Lancaster County), and an alert continues in effect at Rockford Lake (Gage County). Kirkman's Cove Reservoir (Richardson County) was removed from the alert list this week.

State-issued health alerts for toxic blue-green algae continue this week for Merritt Reservoir (Cherry County), Bluestem Lake (Lancaster County), and Rockford Lake (Gage County).

Samples taken at the three listed lakes were below the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion (ppb) of total Microcystins (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae). However, as this is the first week below the threshold for the three lakes, they remain on alert.

State-issued health alerts for toxic blue-green algae were removed this week for Merritt Reservoir (Cherry County), Bluestem Lake (Lancaster County), and Rockford Lake (Gage County). No lakes are currently on the alert list in the state of Nebraska.

Samples taken at the three listed lakes were below the state’s health alert threshold of 20 parts per billion (ppb) of total Microcystins (a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae). This is the second week of testing below the threshold for the three lakes.