SafetyIssues Personal and Public Safety News Articles: Needed: Rapid Testing of Beach Water Quality

Needed: Rapid Testing of Beach Water Quality
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Staff writer for safetyissues.com on 06/09/08 07:10:00
 
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.