Green group: Beaches closing or warning at near-record rate

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By Larry Wheeler and Robert Benincasa, Gannett News Service

The nation's ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches continue to suffer from water pollution that puts swimmers' health at risk, according to a leading environmental group.

Last year, beach closings and no-swimming advisories reached their second-highest level in the 18 years that the group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, has monitored the health of recreational waters.

Beaches close or post advisories when water samples exceed state or federal standards for bacteria that indicate the presence of human or animal waste.

Last year's test results are cause for concern, NRDC officials said.

"It means people do not know if they are safe when they go to a lot of U.S. beaches," said Nancy Stoner, director of the group's Clean Water Project. "Our beaches aren't getting any cleaner. We've seen no improvement at all in terms of the number of samples that did not meet public health standards."

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1. All those lawn chemicals and the dogshit in peoples' yards has to go somewhere...

Not to mention, of course- agricultural waste.