The Homer-based nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper saw their coffers -- as well as their workload -- grow quite a bit April 17 when they were awarded three grants worth a total of $140,406 by the Alaska Department of Conservation.

The money, which came through DEC via the federal Clean Water Act, is marked for three Cook Inlet area projects -- the development of a Clean Harbor Certification program, monitoring of bacteria levels on Homer beaches and monitoring of stream temperatures on Cook Inlet salmon streams.

"We've been successful in accessing this money for a number of years," said Cook Inletkeeper Executive Director Bob Shavelson. "Congress had a good vision for this program and setting up this grant process. We're fortunate to capitalize on it."

In total, DEC handed out $538,944 in Clean Water Act Money to organizations across the state as part of the Alaska Clean Water Actions program.

"Preserving and improving Alaska's waters requires teamwork," said Lynn Kent, Director of DEC's Water Division. "These grants allow us to strengthen our partnerships and help us to conserve, protect, or restore waters that are important to all Alaskans."

The development of a Clean Harbor Certification program is a new project for Cook Inletkeeper, said Outreach and Monitoring Coordinator Rachel Lord. The group will examine similar programs in the Lower 48 and use the ports of Homer and Seldovia as pilot programs.

"We don't need to reinvent the wheel but we do need to have something that will work in Alaska," said Lord. "We need to see what management practices are in place and which ones need to be put in place here. A statewide program would be some subset of these best management practices."

Lord and a team of volunteers also will take on the task of monitoring bacteria levels on beaches at Mariner Park and near Land's End Resort, which will require wading out thigh-deep into the water once a week to collect samples. The samples are then sent to Analytica, a testing firm in Anchorage, which usually has results back within 36 hours.

Cook Inletkeeper began bacteria monitoring at local recreational beaches last year, added Lord, and is looking for volunteers to help continue the work this summer. Next year Bishop's Beach will hoefully be added to the list.

Stream temperature monitoring is another project in its second year, said Cook Inletkeeper Science Director Sue Mauger, and also involves collecting water samples from a wide variety of Cook Inlet watershed streams, including the Seldovia River, Anchor River, Funny River, Montana Creek and Cottonwood Creek.

"Our goal for the project is to try to understand how our different salmon streams are responding to increases in temperatures," said Mauger. "Some streams are going to be more prone to warming than others and we're trying to identify what these stream types will be. Hopefully, our research will be a tool for managers to make better decisions."

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaronselbig.@homernews.com.