More Beaches Closed Due to Pollution

Aug. 3 -- In some states, going to the beach could be bad for your health.

A newly released annual report by the Natural Resources Defense Council shows that beach closings due to bacterial contamination reached unusually high numbers last year for the second year in a row.

Officials issued more than 6,000 warnings and, in some cases, closed their sands to the public in 1999.

“Too many of our beaches are contaminated … a day at the beach should not be followed by a day at the doctor’s,” says Nancy Stoner, director of the NRDC’s Water Project.

Micro Bugs in the Water

Swimming in bacterial contaminated waters can cause a variety of afflictions including gastroenteritis, fever, vomiting, skin rashes and ear, nose and eye infections. These symptoms are more serious in the elderly and very young.

This year’s report from the nonprofit environmental group shows that beach closings and advisories were actually more numerous in 1998 and 1999 due to unusually high El Niño-related pollution problems and widespread drought. But over the past decade, beach closings have risen steadily. This past year’s closings and warnings were twice higher than those issued in 1997.

“Closings and advisories continue to occur at record levels,” says Sarah Chasis, a senior attorney and head of the group’s water and coastal program. “We want rules that require sewer systems to have adequate capacity and be maintained so that they do the job they were designed for.”

More Monitoring

Part of the rise in closures and advisories is due to an increase in beach monitoring by state and local authorities. Since 1991, new monitoring programs have been initiated or expanded in at least nine states.

Stoner says states have good reason to watch over their waters since beachgoing in the United States amounts to a $50 billion a year industry in water-based recreation and more than $100 billion a year in tourism dollars.