Sludge Watch ==> Group sues US Government over diminishing public safety

[Mike Carter]

This problem is a direct result of costal and inland communities' improper
or outdated handling of municipal sewage and urban stormwater. Runoff from
dumped sewage sludge and the daily release of billions of gallons of sewage
effluent containing millions of tones of pollutants are released daily, from
the many sewage treatment plants, directly into our rivers, streams, and
coastal waters. 

 

By Jim Loney 

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

The Natural Resources Defense Council said the U.S. 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outdated water quality standards and says it will not be able to finish the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
U.S. 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   The current outdated standards may not protect beachgoers from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 issued a statement that did not address the NRDC's claim that it
missed Congressional deadlines, but said the agency had developed a "strong
beach program" and distributed more than $52 million to states for
monitoring programs. 

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. 

 

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