PORTLAND—Beach closings and warnings due to bacterial contamination increased in Maine for the second straight year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s annual report released today by Environment Maine.
The report, “Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches,” tallied 92 closing/advisory days in 2005 in Maine, a 65 percent increase from 56 days in 2004. This jump, similar to last year’s, is at least partly due to an increase in the number of beaches monitored. All 92 closing/advisory days were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels from unknown sources of contamination.
“ Maine beachgoers shouldn’t be swimming in animal and human waste,” said Matthew Davis of Environment Maine. “Closing our beaches won’t solve the problem: it’s time to clean up our coasts. The Legislature needs to approve a significant state bond to stop the pollution at its source by improving wastewater treatment plants. With the Bush administration cutting the State Revolving Loan Fund, state assistance is even more essential so that all communities maintain an adequate level of wastewater treatment.”
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.
This year’s report includes new information that provides a more alarming picture of the problem. 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. In most cases, beachwater was contaminated with bacteria, and beachgoers were either swimming in it or banned from swimming because of the health risks. Overall, 8 percent of the beachwater samples taken nationwide violated health standards.
For the 2005 beach season, NRDC looked at the percent of monitoring samples that exceeded Maine’s daily maximum bacterial standard. Fifteen percent of all monitoring samples exceeded the state standard in 2005, and 15 percent violated federal public health standards, the fourth worst record in the country. South Portland’s Williard Beach had no closure and advisory days in 2003, 7 in 2004, had 10 last summer and 6 already this summer, including a closure on Wednesday.
In 2005, the highest percent exceedances were at Yacht Club in Knox County (31%) followed by Short Sands in York (29%), Long Sands Beach in York (27%), Willard Beach in Cumberland (26%), Seal Harbor in Hancock (26%), Town Of Wells in York (24%), Higgins in Cumberland (22%), Kinney Shores (Saco) in York (22%), and Riverside (Ogunquit) in York (22%). NRDC, with Environment Maine’s input, named Pemaquid Beach a Beach Buddy because it had no health standards violations and took steps to clean up pollution.
“The members of MWWCA continue to work on the front lines of water pollution control and remediation, despite ever-shrinking monetary support,” said Andy Rudzinski, President of the Maine WasteWater Control Association. “It is the wastewater professionals operating these facilities who do yeoman’s’ work to keep our water environment safe and clean for all citizens to enjoy.”
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.
“A day at the beach should not turn into a night in the bathroom, or worse, in the hospital,” said Nancy Stoner, director of NRDC’s Clean Water Project. “There have been significant advances over the last two decades that we should be using to protect beachgoers, but the EPA is dragging its feet in implementing them.”
In 2000, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment, and Coastal Health Act ( BEACH Act), which required the EPA to revise the current health standards by October 2005. The agency missed the deadline, and now says it will not be able to finish updating them until 2011.
The current beachwater quality 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 fatal.
“Although the water is dirty, the message is clear. We need stricter health standards from EPA and more federal and state funding to help communities upgrade their sewage treatment systems,” said Matthew Davis. “The Legislature needs to approve a significant bond next session and the Bush administration needs to stop cutting the State Revolving Fund.”
The report found 8 percent of the beachwater samples taken nationwide in 2005 exceeded federal health standards. Mississippi (22 percent) and Louisiana (18 percent) had the highest percentage of exceedances (before Hurricane Katrina) while New Hampshire (1 percent) and Delaware (less than 1 percent) had the fewest.
Based on the report’s findings, NRDC today announced the cleanest and dirties beaches based on percentages of beachwater samples that violated federal public health standards. 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 Pemaquid Beach in Bristol, Maine.
Pemaquid Beach - The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has made a concerted effort to reduce commercial and residential waste discharges into the Atlantic Ocean near Pemaquid Beach. The Overboard Discharge Elimination Program provides grants to homeowners to either hook up their sewage lines to a waste treatment plant or build septic systems. Bristol has provided wastewater treatment to additional homes in an effort to improve water quality.
Beach Bums: Of the 22 Beach Bums – which violated public health standards at least 50 percent of the time samples were taken – none were in Maine.
