Marquette to receive funds to monitor area water

The city of Marquette will be getting more funding to keep area waters clean.  At the City Commissioners meeting Monday night, Marquette Mayor Johnny DePetro said the city will receive $11,000 from the Great Lake Beach Monitoring Grant.

The money will be used to check for E-coli bacteria and continue to research for E-coli bacteria in local waters.  The funds are a $4,000 increase from last year.  With the extra funding, more areas will be able to keep the water as safe as possible and allow more monitoring in swimming areas.

Also on the agenda Monday night was the possibility of a partnership between the Noquemanon Trail Network and the city of Marquette.  The partnership would allow for improvements on the NTN trail head on M-553.

Funding for the project would come from NTN, and is estimated to cost around $70,000.  Improvements include building a changing area and improving the parking lot.  All improvements would meet the city’s recreational plan.  If approved, the improvements to the NTN trail head would not  start until late summer.