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Great Lakes News
For Immediate Release:
8/3/2006
For More Information:
Contact Danielle Korpalski (734) 662-9797 Michigan Beach Closings Down 8% Last Year
DETROIT, MICHIGAN (August 3, 2006) – Beach closings and
warnings due to bacterial contamination dropped in Michigan, according to the
Natural Resources Defense Council’s annual report released today by Environment
Michigan and Clean Water Action.
Michigan had one beach
bum named – Singing Bridge Beach
in Arenac County.
The Beach Bums violated public health standards at least 50 percent of
the time samples were taken.
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. "All the faith traditions thank and praise the Creator for water, because water is Life. We know too well that too much water, too little water, or polluted water brings death,” says Patty Gillis, Executive Director of Voices for Earth Justice. This year’s report includes new information that provides a more alarming picture of the national 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, while samples at Michigan beaches exceeded health standards 3 percent of the time. 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.” The current beachwater quality standards are 20 years old and rely on obsolete monitoring methods and outdated science that leave beachgoers vulnerable to a range of waterborne illnesses.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. “The pollution that fouls our beaches comes from sewers, septic systems, and stormwater runoff from roads and buildings,” said Christy McGillivray of Clean Water Action. “Poorly planned development on our coasts has paved over wetlands and other vegetation that soaked up and filtered polluted stormwater.” “These problems are preventable,” she added. “It would be a lot safer to swim if municipalities used soil and vegetation to capture and filter stormwater at its source, and upgraded their aging sewer systems.” |