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Milwaukee County has received $900,000 in grants to help pay for reconstructing the parking lot and boat launch at South Shore Park on Lake Michigan, officials said Friday.

The work will improve water quality at the park beach, according to County Board Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic.

"The South Shore Park renaissance is continuing," Dimitrijevic said in a news release.

An $800,000 grant from the Wisconsin Waterways Commission will fund repairs to the boat ramp, installation of a boat wash to help control movement of aquatic invasive species and rebuilding of the parking lot, County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement.

The projects are part of a South Shore Park master plan that will include a promenade connecting the parking lot, boat launch and South Shore Yacht Club.

A separate $100,000 grant from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District will help pay for building swales between the parking lot and beach that will collect storm water and trap bacteria and other pollutants before the water drains to the lake.

Improving water quality there is key to restoring public use of the beach, according to Dimitrijevic.

Most years, South Shore is listed among the nation's worst beaches with unsafe water quality — and frequent closings — due to excessive levels of E. coli bacteria from all of the gulls, geese and pigeons that congregate there. Those bacteria are indicators of the presence of fecal pollution in the water.