July 30th, 2009
Is It Safe To Swim At Your Favorite Beach?
Stumble it!
When it comes to the beach, it’s what you can’t see that can really hurt you. We all have irrational beach fears of sharks, jellyfish, rip currents and the like, but our greatest chance of getting hurt or sick at the seaside or lakeside comes from not from these scary but rare threats but instead from the bacteria and other pollutants in the water.
According to the latest version of the NRDC’s annual beach water quality report, pollution-related beach closure and advisory days in 2008 exceeded 20,000 nationwide for the fourth year running. Seven percent of water samples collected at beaches across the country contained human or animal wastes, and over 13 percent exceeded health standards in the Great Lakes. By state the worst offenders were Louisiana (29%), Ohio (19%) and Indiana (18%), meaning that you have a 1 in 5 chance of running into some smelly stuff in these states - yuck! Delaware, New Hampshire and Virginia were best, all falling at or below 1%.
Where does this crud come from? The primary source is stormwater runoff, especially from urban areas. Clean rain falls on dirty surfaces. It picks up all sorts of pollution on its way to the ocean, river or lake - trash, metals, oil and grease and yes, human and animal waste. On a side note, we can all play a role in helping with this problem. The use of rain barrels, rain gardens and other rainwater capture techniques help keep the clean water in your yard before it gets to the much dirtier streets and storm drains.
Some of the best beaches were:
- California, Stinson Beach, Marin County (0%)
- California, Newport Beach, Orange County (0%)
- Delaware, Rehoboth Beach, Sussex County (0%)
- Florida, John Lloyd State Park, Broward County (0%)
- Hawaii, Sandy Beach County Park, Honolulu (0%)
- Massachusetts, South Beach State Park (Martha’s Vineyard), Dukes County (0%)
- Michigan, Petoskey State Park, Emmet County (0%)
- Minnesota, Park Point (Beach House), St Louis County (0%)
- North Carolina, Ocracoke, Hyde County (0%)
- New Jersey, Atlantic City Beaches @ Lincoln, Atlantic County (0%)
- New York, Coney Island Beach, Kings County (0%)
- Texas, South Padre Island, Cameron County (0%)
- Virginia, Virginia Beach (0%)
And now some of the real stinkers:
California, Santa Monica State Beach @ The Pier (43%)- Florida, Alligator Point, Franklin County (56%)
- Louisiana, Holly Beach 5, Cameron County (50%)
- Ohio, Edgewater State Park, Cuyahoga County (34%)
The complete list of beaches surveyed is here, and you can access the entire NRDC report via this link.
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