More than half of America’s beaches contain potentially dangerous levels of feces, according to a new report described as ‘troubling’ by experts.
Testing carried out at more than 3,000 beaches across the country’s coastlines showed that 55 percent had potentially unsafe levels of sewage in their waters at least once last year.
Experts say the contaminated water sickens about one in every 31 swimmers, who end up either swallowing the water laced with dangerous bacteria like E.coli or becoming infected after it colonizes their skin.
One in nine — or 363 — had beaches that were so dirty they posed a risk to people’s health on at least 25 percent of days on which testing took place.
Southern states along the Gulf Coast — including Florida, Texas and Louisiana — were the worst affected, with 84 percent of their beaches having at least one day in 2022 when the water was contaminated with feces.
The above map shows coastal counties in the US by the proportion of days that were unsafe for swimming because of potentially dangerous levels of bacteria in the water. It shows that Oregon had the highest proportion of areas with poor swimming conditions
The above breaks down US coastal areas into regions. It reveals that the Gulf Coast was worst affected, with 84 percent of beaches unsafe for swimming at least once last year, followed by the West Coast and the Great Lakes region
Feces can be swept into the sea after storms, with rainwater causing drains and sewage systems to overflow and spill their contents. It can also be carried into the sea by rivers that pick up manure from industrial farms.
The data on the state of US beaches was compiled by Colorado-based pressure group Environment America for its annual ‘Safe for Swimming?’ report.
It was based on figures from the National Water Quality Monitoring Council, part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which tracks water quality at beaches across the United States.
A total of 3,192 beaches were included in the report. On average, states test the water at their beaches for sewage contamination about once a week.
The second most contaminated beaches in the US were along the West Coast — in California, Oregon and Washington — where 70 percent of beaches were polluted at least once last year.
Beaches surrounding the Great Lakes — like those in Wisconsin and Illinois — were the third most polluted, with 63 percent having feces detected at least once last year.
Oregon had the most polluted beaches in the United States, with half of its counties — three of six — having beaches that were too dirty for swimming from six months to 12 months of the year.
Environment groups say that farming in the state is to blame for the contamination. The EPA has been urging Oregon to clean up its act for years, with a report finding last year that 95 percent of the state’s lakes are now too polluted to be used for drinking water.
At the other end of the scale were Alaska and Hawaii, where 24 percent of beaches had unsafe levels of pollution at least once a year.
John Rumpler, the clean water program director who led the report, told DailyMail.com: ‘What we CAN say is that several factors all mean that this beach pollution is likely to continue and perhaps get worse unless bold action is taken to address it.’
The factors he pointed to were aging sewage systems, sprawling impervious surfaces from urban areas and climate change making intense storms more likely.
He added to Fox News: ‘While the data do not allow us to say whether beach pollution is worse now than in some prior years, there are several troubling trends that increase the likelihood of beach pollution.’
In 2020, the group estimated that 53 percent of beaches had potentially unsafe levels of bacteria for swimming on at least one day. In 2019, the figure was 56 percent.
Last year, there were an estimated 8,700 health warnings or closures of beaches because of pollution in their waters. There were also an estimated 57million cases of illness caused by swimming in dirty water.
People who swim in water contaminated with sewage can ingest the waste — and its dangerous bacteria — by swallowing the water or breathing in mists or aerosols at the water’s surface.
In the report, the experts have included a graphic on the beach water quality in each state. Shown above are the measures for Oregon (left) and Wisconsin (right) in 2022
The above shows the water quality last year along beaches in New York, including New York City, and Alaska last year
The bacteria can then start to multiply rapidly inside the person, triggering an infection and making them sick. In some cases, this is serious enough for hospitalization.
To minimize beach pollution, Environment America recommended boosting investment in systems to prevent or reduce runoff from urban areas.
This could include installing features such as permeable pavement and adding more green space and even ‘green roofs’ to neighborhoods.
Sewage systems should also be repaired and modernized, they said, to stop them from overflowing and polluting waterways.
The experts also called for more work to be put in to protect wetlands, which can reduce contamination by absorbing flood waters and filtering out pollutants.
