A day at the beach can be hazardous to your health, researchers say. About 10 percent of America’s beaches failed a new federal benchmark for what constitutes safe swimming water in the past year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s 24th annual beach report.
Nearly 3,500 water quality samples were collected from beaches along the East and West coasts as well as the Great Lakes, and only one in 10 passed the new Environmental Protection Agency water safety standard, which the agency used for the first time in 2013.
The pollution is most often caused by stormwater runoff and sewage overflow, causing the water to be overrun by disease-causing bacteria, said NRDC water program director Steve Fleischli. Illnesses that can be spread by contact with polluted beach water include stomach flu, skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis, according to the report. Children are more vulnerable because they tend to swallow more water when swimming, Fleischli said.
The EPA estimated that up to 3.5 million people become ill from contact with raw sewage in swimming water each year.
“Sewage and contaminated runoff in the water should never ruin a family beach trip,” Devine said. “But no matter where you live, urban slobber and other pollution can seriously compromise the water quality at your favorite beach and make your family sick.”
The Great Lakes showed the highest level of polluted beaches, followed by the Gulf Coast, New England and the West Coast. The regions with the lowest level of pollution were the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) region, the Southeast and the New York-New Jersey region.
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