In a press conference held Friday in Burlington, Vermont, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy made a commitment to the people of the region to help the city restrict pollution into Lake Champlain.

According to Delhi Daily News, McCarthy announced the approval of a $67,000 grant to curb Lake Champlain’s pollution in a press conference at Saint Albans Bay State Park, appearing alongside Governor Peter Shumlin, Senator Patrick Leahy, and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. “We have been making some great success in drinking water and the water bodies that we love in terms of protecting them,” said McCarthy. “But we are facing unprecedented challenges.”

Vermont Public Radio reports that Saint Albans Bay has been empty for much of the summer, especially after toxic blue-green algae buildup the past few weeks. The grant will go towards lake cleanup, and residents of the city weighed in on other ways that the EPA can help. Recommendations included drinking water standards related to algae blooms, more control over polluters, and ongoing federal investments.

Although the EPA is expecting an answer for the proposed plan next spring, a significant amount of federal investment will certainly be required. “It’s about farms and farm runoff, it’s about development and development runoff, it’s about roads,” said Shumlin, according to Seven Days. “It’s taking the data we have showing us where the most egregious challenges are, and saying, ‘Let’s prioritize where the pollution is happening and get change.’ Vermonters will pay up, but we also need the federal government’s help.”

According to Burlington Free Press, the EPA grant will bring consultants from California-based company Tetra Tech next week to begin planning. “I believe we are in the home stretch,” said McCarthy, of a growing consensus to reduce runoff-fueled algae blooms that threaten water supplies. “People don’t want to wait for an improvement. We need to deliver it soon, and I believe we will.”