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Summer Brings New E. coli Threats

U.S. Beaches "Dirtier Than You Think"

May 29, 2007
The threat to consumers from E. coli bacteria doesn’t come just from tainted food products. With the unofficial start to summer, a trip to the beach could expose your family to increasingly nasty germs.

At least one beach in each of the coastal states has a pollution problem, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Exposure to bacteria, viruses and parasites in contaminated beach water can cause a wide range of diseases, including ear, nose and eye infections; gastroenteritis; hepatitis; encephalitis; skin rashes and respiratory illnesses.

“Our beaches are probably dirtier than you think,” said Nancy Stoner, principal author of the NRDC annual report "Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches. “We found about 200 beaches that violate public health standards 50 percent or more of the time last year.”

Most waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States occur during the summer, when Americans are most likely to be exposed to contaminated beach water. Health experts estimate as many as seven million Americans get sick each year from swimming in contaminated water.

In Michigan, the State Department of Water Quality has issued an advisory to homeowners who maintain private beaches to sample water where they swim. Just because a beach several miles away has tested in the acceptable range, the agency says, homeowners should not assume their stretch of beach is OK as well.

In Pennsylvania, the “swim at your own risk” signs at Presque Isle State Park don’t just refer to drowning hazards. State officials are monitoring contamination levels at Lake Erie beaches, but have decided not to close them when the water tests over the acceptable limit. However, they will issue an advisory to swimmers.

The NRDC is pressing state and local government to make beach water pollution a higher priority. The group is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to:

• Set strong standards to control stormwater pollution.
• Enforce Clean Water Act requirements to ensure that sewage is fully treated before it is discharged into our waterways.
• Adopt water quality criteria to protect the public from the full range of pathogens in sewage, including viruses and parasites.
• Fully fund BEACH Act grants to allow states to increase monitoring, identify and control sources of pollution, utilize faster test methods and develop predictive models.

The group is urging swimmers to be mindful of the growing pollution dangers, and to pick a beach where the water is tested and is closed when the water is too dirty for swimming. NRDC says a beach would be tested at least once a week.

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