Beach water quality in question?

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released Tuesday, August 7, its 17th beach water monitoring report covering water quality testing on 3,500 beaches for the whole of 2006.

NRDC researchers counted 25,000 closing and health advisory days at 3,500 ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches. This number is 28% higher than the 2005 figure, and more than two times the number in 2000. The 2006 increase is attributed largely to additional polluted runoff.

Considered the best beaches, with consistently good water quality were Kure and Kill Devil Hills beaches in North Carolina, and Sister Bay and North Beaches in Wisconsin. The beaches with poor water quality 60 percent of the time included Hacks Point in Maryland and Beachwood Beach West in New Jersey.

On the average, preemptive rain advisories were the cause in two-thirds (67 percent) of the closing and advisory days. These advisories are routinely issued after rainfall, when land pollution and overflowing sewers are carried in the run-off into the ocean.

Unhealthy bacteria levels accounted for 29 percent. These bacteria levels are due principally to contamination resulting from polluted stormwater and sewage. These two causes thus account for 96 percent of all closings and advisories.

Preemptive advisories are usually issued when a city’s sewer system discharges raw sewage directly into the sea because rainwater has filled it to overflowing. Most attempts to solve the problem of containing sewage overflow involve construction of expensive infrastructure, like tanks, and other engineering structures. Realistically, it cannot be done: there will never be enough tanks and ponds to contain all that water.

NRDC believes low-impact development and ‘green’ solutions should also be implemented, like planting more street trees, green roofs, and porous pavements, to help capture stormwater where it falls. It would then be absorbed into the ground and help eventually help recharge groundwater tables, instead of carrying pollution into the sea.

Another pressing need in regard to beach water quality is coming up with testing methods that give bacterial readings in 2-4 hours rather than the current 1-2 days. Quicker testing methods are necessary, to avoid situations where people swim in the beaches one day (thinking it is safe, in the absence of advisories) only to find out a day or two later that it should have been closed due to high bacterial contamination.

The water quality standards in use today are 20 years old; the monitoring methods are obsolete, leaving beachgoers vulnerable to waterborne illnesses. These could include gastroenteritis, dysentery, respiratory diseases, and hepatitis, among many other health problems. Children, senior citizens, and those with weak immune systems are particularly at risk.

In May, related bills were introduced in both chambers of the U.S. Congress to reauthorize the Beach Act of 2000. If passed, this Beach Protection Act of 2007 will require the use of rapid testing methods to detect beach water contamination within two hours to ensure beachgoers are promptly notified of beach health risks. Perhaps the NRDC annual report can help get this bill passed. So can you.