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| artistic credit: Robert E. Kennedy |
Natural Resources Defense Council has issued an annual report on the quality of water at US beaches for 21 years (
Testing the Waters). 2010 had the second highest number of closings and advisories in the history of the report with a 29% increase over the previous year. More than two-thirds of closings and warnings were caused by bacteria levels exceeding safety standards. The source for the offending bacteria is, as you might have guessed already, sewage outflows and storm water runoff. EPA estimates that 3.5 million people get ill from contact with water polluted with raw sewage. Illnesses associated with polluted beach water include gastrointestinal infections, skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis. One study found fecal contamination at Los Angeles and Orange County beaches caused over a million excess cases of gastrointestinal illnesses annually. Southern California has the worst three offending beaches in the nation, while the Great Lakes region has the most contaminated shore waters. A beach frequented by
US Person at one time, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
[image] has some of the nation's best water quality with perfect test results for the past three years. The
Gulf Coast is suffering the after effects of the historic
Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April, 2010. Four beaches in Louisiana remain closed due to oil and three beaches in Florida remain under an oil spill advisory. Most Gulf Coast advisories and closures were lifted by the end of last year.
