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Coastal, Great Lakes States Adopt Criteria For Disease-Causing Pathogens, EPA Says
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Nov. 21 that all coastal and Great Lakes states and territories have adopted water quality criteria to protect swimmers against disease-causing pathogens.
By the end of 2004, EPA said 35 coastal and Great Lakes states and territories that fall under the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000 (BEACH Act; Pub. L. 106-284) had adopted the agency's 1986 recreational criteria for enterococci or Escherichia coli (E. coli). In 1997, only 11 of these states had adopted these criteria.
The presence of enterococci and E. coli is indicative of the extent of fecal contamination in water.
EPA released the finding as part of its first Report to
Congress: Implementing the Beach Act of 2000 on the progress it and affected
states have made since enactment of the act.
The BEACH Act directed coastal and Great Lakes states to adopt for their coastal
recreation waters, by April 10, 2004, water quality criteria for pathogens or
pathogen indicators as protective of human health as EPA's 1986 water quality
criteria for bacteria. The BEACH Act also required EPA to propose and promulgate
such standards for states that did not do so.
Benjamin Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water, told BNA Nov. 21 the
report shows that water quality has improved in some states, but challenges
still remain.
Advances in detection techniques have armed states with tools to improve
detection of fecal contamination at low levels and in shorter periods of time.
Consequently, more states are finding fecal contamination levels today at levels
that are triggering beach advisories and closings more frequently than in the
past.
"The more you know, the more you find," Grumbles acknowledged.
The report shows that more than 3,500 out of roughly 6,000 beaches were
monitored during the 2004 swimming season, compared with about 1,000 in 1997.
NRDC Lawsuit to Proceed
Grumbles said EPA remains committed to providing funds and tools to states that
would enable them to be proactive in monitoring beaches and protecting public
health. He emphasized that the report shows EPA has disbursed $52 million to
develop beach monitoring and notification programs. In addition, EPA has
improved public access to data on beach advisories and closings by improving its
electronic beach data collection system, known as eBeaches.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) seemed to remain unimpressed with
EPA's efforts. The environmental advocacy group is pursuing its lawsuit against
EPA for continuing to rely on 20-year-old criteria for bacteria. The NRDC is
claiming that EPA violated the BEACH Act by failing to issue revised water
quality criteria for bacteria by the congressionally mandated deadline of
October 2005 and making states use "obsolete" water quality criteria for
bacteria to set standards (Natural Resources Defense Council v. Johnson, C.D.
Cal., No. 06-cv-4843, 8/03/06).
Likewise, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies will be the
supporting NRDC lawsuit against EPA. Alexandra Dunn, NACWA's general counsel,
confirmed Nov. 22 that the national wastewater utility group intends to file its
petition in the week following Thanksgiving (192 DEN A-2, 10/4/06 ).
EPA's Report to Congress: Implementing the Beach Act of 2000, is available at
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/report/.
By Amena H. Saiyid