Koelemay's Kosmos

Doug Koelemay

Beach Week

Reading might be a lot safer than swimming outside of Virginia this year.

That’s why reading a just released report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) might be a safer beach activity in certain places this month than swimming. In “Testing the Waters 2006,” the NRDC documents a five- percent jump in “No Swimming!” beach closings and advisories nationwide to more than 20,000 total days in 2005. Two hundreds swimming beaches violated public health standards at least 25 percent of the time. The contributing factors are familiar -- heavy rainfall that increases runoff, booming development in coastal areas, unremediated source pollution and, yes, more monitoring.

The NRDC warns further that even beaches that meet current beach water standards may not be safe. Current standards are two decades old and rely on obsolete monitoring standards and science. In the BEACH Act of 2000, the Congress required the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise beach water quality standards by October 2005. But EPA missed the deadline and now suggests 2011 as a better target. NRDC sued EPA on August 3 to force EPA to obey the law.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, Maryland and Pennsylvania were alarmingly high on the list of non-compliers, well above the national average. But there is some good news for Virginia and other parts of the region. Delaware had the lowest percentage of beach water samples from its 21 beach areas exceed national standards. Virginia’s 50 beaches had samples that exceeded national standards only two percent of the time, third best among 29 coastal states. And North Carolina had about three percent non- compliance among its 245 beach areas.

NDRC, in fact, noted that Virginia has used funds in 2001-2002 to incorporate monitoring programs already underway in Virginia Beach and Norfolk into a statewide, coordinated beach monitoring program. The Commonwealth used a $279,920 federal BEACH Act grant in 2005 and another for $276,900 in 2006 to continue to improve the Commonwealth’s annual monitoring, closing and advisory program. The results have been impressive. Total days of advisories in Virginia decreased 71 percent to 42 in 2005 from 147 in 2004 and there were no beach closings in Virginia in 2005

But there were Virginia beaches in 2005 where enterococcus bacteria levels did increase risk of gastro-intestinal illness as well as ear and eye infections in swimmers. Specifically cited were Fairview Beach in King George County, King-Lincoln Beach and Hilton Beach in Newport News, all of which had samples exceeding national standards over 20 percent of the time. At this time in 2006, only 63rd Street Beach in Virginia Beach is under a swimming advisory, but concerned citizens should seek out up-to-date information on all state beaches at the Virginia Department of Health Website.

No one would disagree that Virginia’s up-to-date information always should be “Safe” in an ideal world. How does Virginia get there? Immediate and substantial investments in upgrading sewage treatment plants in Virginia and improving farming practices to limit runoff are an obvious response to the challenge. Another is renewed pressure on the EPA to upgrade public health standards and testing methods ASAP. Remember: There is more at risk than public health, as significant as that is. Coastal tourism contributes more than 200,000 jobs and $16.5 billion annually to Virginia’s economy.

A targeted response would improve monitoring and remedial actions at specific locations. Under contract to the Virginia Department of Health, for example, Virginia Tech in 2005 assessed in detail the possible sources of fecal contamination that led to the larger number of swimming advisories in 2004. The VT scientific team under Dr. Charles Hagedorn found that seven of the most problematic beaches had been damaged by Hurricane Isabel in September 2003. Beach restoration projects in 2004 and 2005 helped reduce the level of pollution from human sources and improve water quality conditions. The message, then, is that improvements in beach water quality and in information about that quality are possible.

New standards, increased monitoring, investments in new sewage treatment plants and more responsible behavior from individuals all are part of the solution. Dispose of toxic household products, motor oil and animal waste properly. Dedicate a source of revenue from tourism dollars to the effort (studies peg coastal tourism at $30 billion a year nationwide and manufacturers’ take from sunscreen sales alone at $640 million annually). Give Virginians headed to California, South Carolina or Mississippi beaches access to information to make good judgments about beach time reading and beach time swimming. Both are better than beach time pinkeye, skin rash or respiratory infection. Now pass the 45.

-- August 7 , 2006