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Beach Pollution Worsening, Environmental Group Warns

August 8, 2007
August is typically the month Americans head for the beach to relax at the water’s edge. But this year, an environmental group is warning beachgoers that relaxation is carrying more and more risks – not from sharks but from germs.

Beach closings and warnings due to bacterial contamination hit a near-record high in Los Angeles County last year despite drought conditions that reduced urban runoff, the main cause of polluted beach water.

Across the country, beaches were unsafe for swimming on a record number of days, according to the 17th annual beach water quality report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

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A recent study tallied more than 25,000 closing and health advisory days at ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches in 2006. The number of no-swim days caused by overflowing sewage systems doubled from the year before.

NRDC’s report tallied 2,072 closing and health advisory days in 2006 for LA County beaches, the second highest since statewide testing standards began seven years ago. Closings mean water is dirty enough to cause gastroenteritis, dysentery, hepatitis, respiratory ailments and other serious health problems. Across California, the report documented 4,644 closing and health advisory days in 2006. Studies show that water-borne diseases cost Californians tens of millions of dollars each year in health care and lost work.

“Families shouldn’t be worried about keeping the kids out of the water so they don’t get sick,” said David Beckman, a senior attorney with NRDC and the director of its California Coastal Water Quality Program. “But too often, unfortunately, that’s the case.”

Aging and poorly designed sewage and storm water systems hold much of the blame for beach water pollution. At the same time, unmitigated urban sprawl continues to overwhelm wetlands and other natural barriers, such as dunes and beach grass, which help filter hazardous pollutants. Rainstorms often cause large amounts of pollution to flow to the beach, and sewers to overflow.

“We can fix leaky pipes; we can require costal developers to maintain vegetation to absorb rain. The solutions are out there,” said Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC’s Clean Water Project.

One example of smarter building is the main Santa Monica Public Library, which received the LEED Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council when it opened early last year. It has a water management system that captures, filters and holds 200,000 gallons of rainwater in a cistern, keeping it from overwhelming the city storm water system. The stored water is used to irrigate the library’s garden.

Beach Bums and Beach Buddies

This year, NRDC named Avalon Beach -- north of Green Pleasure Pier, on Santa Catalina Island (Los Angeles County) -- and Venice State Beach (San Mateo County) as Beach Bums because they failed to meet national health standards more than half of the time, putting beachgoers at risk.

NRDC named Laguna Beach at the City of Laguna Beach a Beach Buddy because it took steps to clean up pollution.

For the third consecutive year, “Testing the Waters” looked at the percent of monitoring samples that exceeded California’s daily maximum bacterial standards for enterococcus, total coliform, and fecal coliform. Besides the two Bums above, the other beaches with the highest percent exceedances of state standards were:
• Los Angeles County: Long Beach area B-69, Long Beach area B-70, Colorado Lagoon-South, Colorado Lagoon-Center, Colorado Lagoon-North, Santa Monica State Beach at Santa Monica Pier, and Long Beach-Alamitos Bay Beach at 2nd St. Bridge & Bay Shore Ave.
• San Mateo County: Marina Lagoon
• Santa Barbara County: East Beach-Mission Beach
•

Mendocino County had the highest percent of monitored beaches with no exceedances (88 percent), followed by Sonoma (71 percent), Monterey (50 percent), San Diego (32 percent), Marin (30 percent), Ventura (27 percent), Santa Cruz (24 percent), San Mateo (15 percent), Orange (6 percent), Santa Barbara (5 percent), and Los Angeles (1 percent).

Poor Testing

Not only are many beaches polluted, but the way they are tested is also failing the American public, according to NRDC public health and water experts. The current beach water quality standards are 20 years old and rely on obsolete monitoring methods and outdated science that leave beachgoers vulnerable to a range of waterborne illnesses.

This led NRDC to file a lawsuit against the EPA a year ago, when the previous Testing the Waters report was released. In 2000, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act), which required EPA to revise the then current health standards by October 2005. The agency missed the deadline and said it would not comply until 2011.

NRDC’s lawsuit seeks to force EPA to adopt protective standards on a tighter schedule. The court recently ruled that EPA violated the BEACH Act, and it is setting a schedule for EPA to come into compliance.

National Beach Data

Nationwide, sewage spills and overflows caused at least 1,301 beach closing and advisory days in 2006, an increase of 402 days from 2005. Elevated bacteria levels from miscellaneous sources, such as boat discharges or wildlife, accounted for at least 410 closing and advisory days, an increase of 77 days from 2005. In addition, more than 14,000 closing and advisory days were due to unknown sources of pollution.

Besides compiling data on 3,500 U.S. beaches, the report this year takes an especially close look at the nation’s highest risk beaches – those that are either very popular, very close to pollution sources, or both.

Of those high-risk beaches, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Rhode Island and Minnesota ranked the worst for failing to meet national health standards. The problem was compounded by record rainfall, which added to the strain on already overloaded infrastructure.

“Beachgoers should use this report to inform themselves about the quality of water at local beaches,” said Michelle Mehta, an attorney with NRDC’s California Coastal Water Quality Program. “Choose your beach wisely. And if there is any doubt, or if the water smells bad or looks dirty, stay out of it.”

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