Sludge Watch ==> Natural Resources Defense Council - Suing US Govt for dirty beaches-water

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=36530



US Beachgoers at Risk From Polluted Water
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US: May 25, 2006


MIAMI - An environmental group said on Wednesday it would sue the US 
government for failing to protect millions of beachgoers from contaminated 
water.


The Natural Resources Defense Council said the US Environmental Protection 
Agency has moved too slowly to update beach water quality standards and 
protect people from diarrhea, skin rashes, earaches, pink eye, respiratory 
infections and other ailments from polluted water.
The agency missed an October 2005 deadline mandated by Congress to revise 
outdated water quality standards and says it will not be able to finish the 
job until 2011, the group said.

"A day at the beach is not worth a night at the hospital," Nancy Stoner, the 
director of group's clean water project, said during a telephone news 
conference five days before Memorial Day, the traditional beginning of the 
US beach season.

The Natural Resources Defense Council said it had served the EPA with a 
notice of its intent to sue in 60 days, as required by law, on Wednesday.

EPA officials were not immediately available for comment.

The lawsuit will seek to force the EPA to accelerate its timetable for 
setting new water quality standards and to strengthen those standards to 
"fully protect the public" from bacteria, viruses and parasites in beach 
water, the group said.

The EPA also needs to set standards for facilities that discharge 
contaminated water, such as sewage treatment plants, it said. In addition, 
the EPA should establish testing methods that allow public health officials 
to quickly decide whether to close beaches or advise people against 
swimming.

The current outdated standards may not protect beachgoers from serious 
illnesses such as hepatitis and encephalitis as well as a host of common 
stomach ailments and infections, the group said.

The EPA needs to put breakthrough technologies in microbiology -- the kind 
seen on TV crime scene shows -- to work detecting pollutants at beaches, 
said Dr. Joan Rose, director of Michigan State University's Center for Water 
Sciences.

"We are essentially using about 100-year-old methods, particularly when we 
monitor discharges that end up at our beaches," Rose said.

The elderly, children and people with weakened immune systems are 
particularly at risk from waterborne contaminants.

The Natural Resources Defense Council said experts estimate some 7 million 
Americans are made ill by contaminated water, including recreational and 
drinking water, each year.

Studies have estimated anywhere from 2 to 14 percent of people who go into 
the water at beaches become infected and serious outbreaks can send people 
to hospitals for treatment, Rose said.

The Natural Resources Defense Council advised beachgoers to find out whether 
their beaches are regularly monitored for water quality and to avoid those 
with visible discharge pipes or where the water smells or looks murky.

Urban beaches can be a particular problem after heavy rain because rainwater 
can wash pollutants into oceans, lakes and rivers.

Swimmers should avoid swallowing water and use alcohol gels to clean hands 
before handling food, the group said.



Story by Jim Loney


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE