The Ohio Nowcast is the result of multi-year partnerships on several projects between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Ohio Water Science Center, and other federal, state, and local agencies and universities.

Monitoring and beach water-quality information are updated daily on the 2012 Ohio Nowcast by Cuyahoga County Board of Health (Huntington), Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (Edgewater), the University of Toledo, and the U.S. National Park Service (Cuyahoga River). Other partners on the 2012 Nowcast include Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), and Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Current activities are supported by the U.S. EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the USGS Oceans Research Priority Plan, the U.S. EPA BEACHES grant program (administered by Ohio Department of Health), and funding and in-kind services from partnering agencies.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory (Athens, GA) provided the “Virtual Beach” software that was used extensively during 2012 to develop predictive models.

Past funding for research and development supporting the Ohio Nowcast was provided by Ohio Water Development Authority, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Advanced Monitoring Initiative, the Ohio Lake Erie Office, and the USGS Cooperative Water Program.

Erie County Health Department, Lake County General Health District, and and Lorain County Metroparks are future partners on the Ohio Nowcast. These agencies are testing predictive models at other beaches for possible inclusion in the Ohio Nowcast in 2013.