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Preserving Massachusetts News
For Immediate Release:
8/3/2006 Pollution Prompts Record Number of Massachusetts Beach Closings Despite Better Monitoring
As the new home of MASSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Massachusetts can be contacted regarding this news release. Closings Hit Record High in MA BOSTON—Beach closings and warnings due to bacterial contamination have reached record numbers in Massachusetts, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s annual report released today by MASSPIRG and Clean Water Action. Of the 29 states included in the report, Massachusetts comes in 12 th in terms of warnings and closings. The report, “Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches,” tallied 680 closing and health advisory days in Massachusetts in 2005, a 4 percent increase from the 653 the year before. Ninety-one percent (616) of closing/advisory days in 2005 were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels from unknown sources of contamination. Nine percent (64) were preemptive rainfall advisories. “ Massachusetts beachgoers shouldn’t be swimming in pollution and waste,” said Stephanie Abrahams of MASSPIRG. “While we’re glad Massachusetts has increased its monitoring of public beaches, the more information we get the bigger the problems we discover.” MASSPIRG was a key proponent of the Beaches bill, which became law in 2000 and requires stricter monitoring and testing of beaches in Massachusetts. Last year, the state monitored 100% of the 496 public beaches across the state, according to the NRDC report. Nationally, the number of closing and health advisory days at ocean, bay, and Great Lakes beaches topped 20,000 in 2005 – the most since NRDC began tracking the problem 16 years ago – confirming that U.S. beaches continue to suffer from serious water pollution. “The largest known sources of beachwater pollution are contaminated stormwater (23%) and sewage (4%), in other words, pollution from people,” says Clean Water Action’s Becky Smith. “Next year, we want to see a long list of Massachusetts’ beaches on the ‘Beach Buddies’ list by cleaning our stormwater better, and taking steps to prevent sewage overflows.” This year’s report includes new information that provides a more alarming picture of the problem of beachwater quality . For the first time, NRDC evaluated beachwater quality nationwide and found 200 beaches in two dozen states whose beachwater samples violated the public health standards at least 25 percent of the time. Sixteen of those beaches are located in Massachusetts. In most cases, beachwater was contaminated with bacteria, and beachgoers were either swimming in it or banned from swimming because of the health risks. NRDC named Cockle Cove Beach in Chatham and Sandy Beach in Danvers “Beach Bums”; a designation given because samples taken there failed to meet health standards more than half the time, putting beachgoers at risk. The current beachwater health standards, however, do not adequately protect the public and must be updated, according to NRDC. Today the organization announced it is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to modernize the standards as ordered by Congress six years ago. In 2000, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act ( BEACH Act), which required the EPA to revise the current beachwater quality standards by October 2005. The agency missed the deadline, and now says it will not be able to finish updating the standards until 2011. The current standards are 20 years old and rely on obsolete monitoring methods and outdated science that leave beachgoers vulnerable to a range of waterborne illnesses. Risks include gastroenteritis, dysentery; hepatitis, respiratory ailments and other serious health problems. For senior citizens, small children, and people with weak immune systems, the results can be harmful, and potentially worse. “Although the water’s not clear, it’s clear what we need: stricter health standards from the EPA, and a turnaround from the Bush administration, which has cut funding to help communities upgrade their sewage treatment systems for several years---it’s now at the lowest level in a decade.” Said Janet Domenitz, Executive Director for MASSPIRG. Beach Buddies and Beach Bums Based on the report’s findings, NRDC today announced the best and worst beaches for protecting beachgoers from contaminated water. This year there are 32 Beach Buddies and 22 Beach Bums. Beach Buddies: The 32 Beach Buddies – which monitored beachwater quality regularly, had no violations of public health standards, and took significant steps to reduce pollution – include 2 beaches in the Northeast, though none in MA:
Beach Bums: The 22 Beach Bums – which violated public health standards at least 50 percent of the time samples were taken – include 3 from New England, including 2 in MA:
The full report is available at www.masspirg.org
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