Published August 9, 2001
Pollution Shut Down Beaches More Often In 2000, Study Says
Associated PressContributed to by: David Wasson -- Tribune reporter
Washington- Swimmers faced sewage-polluted waters that closed beaches across the nation nearly twice as often as last year as in 1999, an environmental group said Wednesday.
Florida, however, saw the number of beach closings and advisories fall 21 percent, a drop environmentalists attribute to drought.
A survey released by the Natural Resources Defense Council cites 11,270 beach closings and advisories in 2000, with 85 percent due to elevated bacteria counts that exceeded federal swimmer safety standards. Florida counted 527 closings or advisories.
"Much of the pollution problem is from stormwater runoff," Linda Young of the Clean Water Network said Wednesday in Tallahassee. Lower rainfall in Florida led to less runoff, which typically carries pollutants from sources such as leaking septic tanks an sewer lines, Young said.
Defying the statewide trend were Miami in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys in Monroe County. They were among seven Florida counties where beach closings increased last year, the group said. The others were Bay, Brevard, Broward, Nassau and Taylor.
The council want the Bush administration to implement new federal water-quality standards, announced just before President Clinton left office, aimed at cleaning up coastal pollution and reducing stormwater and agriculture runoff.
Although the high bacteria levels were mainly due to increased rain and more frequent municipal and state monitoring, the council's 11th annual report also points to a 40 percent jump in the number of beaches reporting pollution problems from an unknown source.
Two-fifths of U.S. waters are still too polluted for swimming, fishing and supporting aquatic life, the group says.
Just eight beach areas, all in Connecticut and Massachusetts, were awarded high praise for pollution control. The survey singles out Louisiana and Oregon as "Beach bums" for a second year in a row for failing to regularly monitor their coastlines.
In the past year, 11 states -- Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas -- initiated or expanded monitoring programs. California, Massachusetts and Florida also passed legislation requiring better beach monitoring and public notifacation.
Florida environmentalists are pleased with the monitoring program but will push lawmakers next year to strenghten it.
Its weakness, Young and others said, is that it lets local officials decide whether to post advisories when water tests find unhealthy pollution levels. Young said she would prefer a uniform response that required counties to either close beaches or post clear warnings.
The number of closings and advisories has soared since data became available in 1988. That year, there were just 484 such notices.