More Beaches Closed Due to Pollution

Aug. 3, 2000 -- 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.

“Reducing beach water pollution is an investment that makes sense, not only because of the economic value of clean water but also because beach water pollution makes people sick,” Chasis told a news conference called to release the report.

Of the 32 states in the study, California accounted for more than half of the beach closures and warnings issued in 1999, with 3,547, followed by Florida with 671. Inland state Ohio recorded 257 while the U.S. Virgin Islands had 307.

Poor Prevention

Chasis said that despite the increase in warnings, inconsistent monitoring of the nation’s beaches remains a problem. She pointed out that even if a state regularly tests its waters, officials might not close beaches when a problem arises.

The NRDC has called on Congress to pass a federal beach bill enforcing stricter rules that is still pending in the Senate, and has urged President Clinton to live up to his promise to establish federal rules to eliminate raw sewage discharge.

The study issued a “Beach Bum” list for states that did not regularly monitor ocean or bay beach water for swimming safety. These were Louisiana, Oregon, Texas and Washington states.

“Beach buddies” — places where beaches were monitored more than once a week and closed when needed — were East Haven Town Beach in Connecticut, North Beach and Oceanside at Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland, and Revere Beach and Short Beach in Massachusetts.

Only 11 states comprehensively monitored most or all of their beaches and notified the public. These are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

More than two-thirds of beach closings and warnings last year were due to high bacteria levels in the water. Others were a result of pollution caused by sewage treatment plant failures, for example, or by heavy rains that carry pollution into swimming waters.

ABCNEWS.com’s Amanda Onion, ABCNEWS Radio and Reuters contributed to this report.