http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/9625473/detail.html
Report Details Contamination At Beaches
Problem Beaches Identified
BOSTON -- A day at the beach sounds like the perfect summer break, but a
new report released Thursday reveals much of the country's coastline is
contaminated.
The National Resources Defense Council issued its annual "Beach Bums"
report. Researchers found that contamination -- everything from garbage to
raw sewage -- caused health warnings and beach closings more than 20,000
times last year. That number sets a new record.
The EPA said the numbers could be misleading, because more beaches are
monitored now than ever before. But the NRDC said the EPA failed to
improve monitoring standards, and it plans to sue the agency.
In Revere, the cleanliness of the water was on a lot of people's minds.
"It's something we definitely think about whenever there is a report in
the news or in the paper with regards to bacteria or anything like that.
It's something that we definitely take note of," said Vilma Torres, of
Everett.
"I don't want (my kids) to get sick. The ocean has been bad before, so it
could probably be bad again," said Marty Dolan, of Revere.
The annual report said that the ocean was bad enough in Massachusetts to
trigger 680 beach closings last year -- a 4 percent increase from the year
before. Ninety-one percent of the closings were due to elevated bacteria
levels from unknown sources.
Last year in Massachusetts, problems included Cockle Creek in Chatham,
where elevated bacteria levels were found 73 percent of the time. Sandy
Beach in Danvers violated safety standards 50 percent of the time, Cook's
Brook came in at 41 percent and Wollaston in Quincy was 39 percent.
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