124 Beaches Violated Public Health Standards In 2008

By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

A new survey by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Water Program on water quality at U.S. beaches found that beach closings due to biohazards surpassed 20,000 for the fourth consecutive year, a rather high, yet steady finding.

“There are 124 coastal beaches in the U.S. that violated public health standards in one out of every four water samples taken last year,” NRDC Co-director Nancy Stoner said during a conference call with reporters. “People swimming at contaminated beaches. . . are pretty likely to get sick.”

A five-star rating was used for the first time this year to judge beach pollution by evaluating each beach's management ability to monitor water quality and communicate to swimmers. While many beaches received five stars, some beaches received four stars because they tested water samples only once per week.

Stoner said that more needs to be done to improve beaches used for swimming. Although current NRDC standards are rather minimal, NRDC is lobbying Congress to pass the Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act, which would require states to begin using rapid-water tests and provide funding for studies to identify pollution sources.

NRDC is an environmental activist organization that was founded in 1970 to advocate its overall goal of cleaning-up the ecosystem. For more information on individual beach ratings, visit www.nrdc.org/beaches.