As spring break approaches and the sun starts to shine, families are gearing up for beach vacations to enjoy the sand, surf, and sunshine. It’s a time to relax, make memories, and have fun with your kids. But before you grab your towel and your sunscreen, consider this: is the water at your beach safe for swimming?
Pollution at the beach can make us sick
As our research partners have shown, the water at our favorite beaches are sometimes plagued with pathogens – like strains of enterococcus or E. coli that can make us sick. Swimming in water with high levels of these bacteria can result in nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, skin rashes, and more.
The only thing less bad than your kids getting sick at the beach? Driving 3+ hours only to find that your favorite beach is closed or has an advisory posted warning of fecal bacteria in the water. Now what do you do?
The problem is more widespread than you might think. Public health experts estimate that 57 million Americans get sick every year from swimming in contaminated open waters (which does not include swimming pools.)
To be clear, when we say “pathogen pollution” what we really mean is poopy water. Sewage overflows and runoff pollution spill into our waterways at a rate of hundreds of billions of gallons every year. And that massive flow of wastewater contains tiny bits of fecal matter – yes, poop.
How to avoid getting sick
Before you make the trek to your favorite beach, see if recent water testing data is available. First, select your state from this dashboard in our Safe for Swimming report.
Safe for Swimming?
After selecting your state on the dashboard, scroll down to see your state’s website where you can access local water quality testing data.
For most coastal states, their webpage will provide the latest testing results from each beach. For example, Florida has a map where you can click on your favorite beach, and the state updates their website weekly with the most up-to-date testing information.
How can we stop beach pollution?
To prevent pathogens from flowing to our beaches, we need to fix our sewage and stormwater infrastructure. States have told EPA that will cost $630 billion over the next 20 years. So we’re calling on Congress to fully fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund – the main source of federal funding for that purpose.
In the short term, we also need better and more timely testing at our beaches. So we’re backing a bipartisan bill to update and improve the national BEACH Act testing program.
When our nation passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, we vowed that all our waterways would be safe for swimming. Let’s make it so!
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Authors
Caroline works on campaigns at the national level for Environment America. Caroline lives in Rockville, Maryland, with her family, where she enjoys walking her dog, rock climbing and knitting.
John directs Environment America’s efforts to protect our rivers, lakes, streams and drinking water. John’s areas of expertise include lead and other toxic threats to drinking water, factory farms and agribusiness pollution, algal blooms, fracking and the federal Clean Water Act. He previously worked as a staff attorney for Alternatives for Community & Environment and Tobacco Control Resource Center. John lives in Brookline, Mass., with his family, where he enjoys cooking, running, playing tennis, chess and building sandcastles on the beach.
