Sunday, May 11, 2025
5/11/2025
Strengthening Statewide Environmental Health Capacity - The Massachusetts Department of Public Health/Bureau of Environmental Health (MDPH) proposes to build statewide environmental health capacity (Component A), and develop targeted programmatic support for evaluating cyanobacteria hazards in recreational waterbodies (Component B3) by developing strategic relationships with key partners. We will pursue three main strategies when seeking to strengthen the core capacity of local public health to identify and address environmental health hazards under Component A. First, we will broadly strengthen the capacity of 351 communities in Massachusetts by providing easily accessible data, training and resources to conduct assessments of the nature, extent, and vulnerability to environmental hazards. Secondly, we will identify interventions that reduce the burden of exposure to environmental hazards through working with key federal, state and local partners. Thirdly, we will continually document and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of our training, assessment and intervention tools to ensure they may inform a larger evidence base for the practice of environmental health. We will also pursue a similar three-prong strategy when developing a comprehensive and effective program to evaluate cyanobacteria hazards at recreational water bodies, consistent with Component B3 of this announcement. As part of this effort, we will build on our established procedures to evaluate enteric bacteria at beach locations intended for swimming, by expanding the portfolio of services to offer evaluations of cyanobacteria hazards. This proposal will strengthen the capability and capacity of local health departments to conduct assessments of a related, but different microbial hazard (that is, cyanobacteria hazards) in the environment, through leveraging a statewide network of recreational water quality testing programs. We will seek to reduce the burden of exposure to cyanobacteria by again working with federal, state and local government partners as well as watershed advocacy groups to identify waterbodies where the need to prevent exposure is greatest. Initial impressions are that this work is most needed at beaches/recreational water bodies that are not used for swimming, thereby eliminating a regulatory driver or fee-for-service support system that facilitates many local water quality evaluation programs. For both Component A and B, we will evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the assessment and interventions we develop through this cooperative agreement, and document all of our findings.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).