America's Beaches Becoming Less Safe

Last year more health warnings and beach closures were issued than ever before in the United States. Beaches were closed for a total of 20,000 days along US ocean, bay and Great Lakes in 2005, an increase of 5% over the previous year. In fact, an environmental group, The Natural Resources Defense Council, is suing the authorities.

In a report issued by The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), it concludes that the violations are pretty good indications that the beach water was contaminated with human and animal waster and that people were either swimming in the waste or banned from doing so due to the public health risk.

As the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) guidelines for water quality standards are over two decades old, the group says it is highly likely that some of the beaches that received the seal of approval may not have been as clean as people thought.

According to the EPA, water hygiene standards were to be updated by the end of 2005. Now it looks as though the whole updating process may not be completed for another five years, says the NRDC. The NRDC is suing the EPA - it wants to force it to establish more stringent standards immediately.

The report found that, in 2005, 8% of the water along America's beaches failed to meet the minimum standards set out twenty years ago. 22% of Mississippi's beaches had dirty water.

Hawaii, which is famous for its beautiful beaches, saw twice as many warnings about beach water quality in 2005 than the previous year. There were no beach closures in Hawaii in 2005. Authorities in Hawaii say the increase is almost completely due to heavier rainfall, which brings water (runoff) from rural and urban areas.

Rank of States by Percent of Beach Samples Exceeding the National Standard in 2005 State (In all the cases below, a segment of each beach was monitored)

Mississippi 22%
Total Samples - 1,257
Beaches - 22

Louisiana 18%
Total Samples - 949
Beaches - 35

Wisconsin 16%
Total Samples - 4,403
Beaches - 127

Maine 15%
Total Samples - 787
Beaches - 43

South Carolina 15%
Total Samples - 2,384
Beaches - 29

Illinois 14%
Total Samples - 4,296
Beaches - 53

Ohio 13%
Total Samples - 1,619
Beaches - 54

Rhode Island 13%
Total Samples - 2,155
Beaches - 132

Maryland 12%
Total Samples - 2,148
Beaches - 187

California 11%
Total Samples - 28,990
Beaches - 562

Indiana 11%
Total Samples - 2,704
Beaches - 36

Georgia 10%
Total Samples - 1,009
Beaches - 27

Pennsylvania 10%
Total Samples - 339
Beaches - 10

Minnesota 9%
Total Samples - 1,174
Beaches - 39

New York 9%
Total Samples - 6,582
Beaches - 339

Alabama 7%
Total Samples - 709
Beaches - 26

Texas 6%
Total Samples - 6,159
Beaches - 58

Massachusetts 5%
Total Samples - 6,898
Beaches - 533

Michigan 4%
Total Samples - 2,506
Beaches - 196

Oregon 4%
Total Samples - 1,339
Beaches - 25

Florida 4%
Total Samples - 15,775
Beaches - 303

Connecticut 4%
Total Samples - 1,114
Beaches - 38

Hawaii 4%
Total Samples - 2,274
Beaches - 97

Washington 3%
Total Samples - 4,056
Beaches - 73

North Carolina 3%
Total Samples - 5,875
Beaches - 245

New Jersey 3%
Total Samples - 5,643
Beaches - 325

Virginia 2%
Total Samples - 836
Beaches - 50

New Hampshire 1%
Total Samples - 597
Beaches - 15

Delaware <1%
Total Samples - 378
Beaches - 21

National 8%
Total Samples - 114,955
Beaches - 3,700

Click Here To See The Report

ABOUT NRDC

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national nonprofit environmental organization with more than 650,000 members. Since 1970, its lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have been working to protect the world's natural resources and improve the quality of the human environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. http://www.nrdc.org.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

Article Source: http://www.share.onlypunjab.com

www.nrdc.org

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