Waters along upper Atlantic seaboard the most pristine, report says

July 30, 2009 By James Rosen

The nation's cleanest beachwaters are along the upper half of the Atlantic seaboard, in Virginia, Delaware and New Hampshire, a national environmental group said Wednesday.

At the other end of the spectrum, Louisiana has the most contaminated waters, followed by Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a new report.

The study used federal clean-water standards to assess coastal and lake beaches in 30 states, based on samples taken in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available.

"Pollution from dirty stormwater runoff and sewage overflows continues to make its way to our beaches," said Nancy Stoner, a water analyst with the environmental group. "From contracting the flu or pink eye, to jeopardizing millions of jobs and billions of dollars that rely on clean coasts, there are serious costs to inaction."

California and Florida, two large states with some of the country's most well-known beaches, fare quite differently in the report.

Florida is tied with New Jersey at ninth among the 30 states, with 3 percent of their beachwater samples exceeding bacterial levels set by the .

California, by contrast, is at No. 19, tied with South Carolina, Alabama and New York. Their beachwater samples were found to be contaminated 8 percent of the time.

Farther north along the Pacific Coast, Washington state tied with Connecticut at No. 11 with 4 percent of their beachwater samples failing to meet the federal standards.

On the Atlantic, just 1 percent of samples from a total of 87 beaches in Virginia, Delaware and New Hampshire were contaminated, making their waters the most pristine.

Almost as clean were the waters off North Carolina, Georgia and Maryland, with 2 percent of samples from 356 beaches testing contaminated.

Hawaii's fabled waters fared just as well, with 2 percent of samples from 444 beaches failing to meet the standards.

and river waters in Arkansas ranked as the cleanest among inland states -- just 2 percent of samples from 18 beaches were found to be polluted.

Among other states in the report, Texas is tied at No. 15 with a 6 percent pollution rate, Pennsylvania is 23rd at 9 percent, Mississippi ties at No. 24 with a 14 percent contamination rate, and Illinois is 26th at 15 percent.

Though Florida fares reasonably well overall in the study, it has 10 beaches on the list of those where the share of contaminated water samples was 25 percent or higher.

The state's dirtiest beach is at Shired Island in Dixie County -- with 90 percent of 29 samples taken in 2008 exceeding federal norms.

California, the most populous state and home to nearly 650 public beaches, placed 20 on the most-contaminated list.

The Golden State's most-polluted waters are at Avalon Beach on Catalina Island, across from Long Beach and south of Los Angeles; 62 percent of 42 samples taken there failed to meet the national standards.

However, none of the popular beaches between San Francisco and Los Angeles -- including beaches in Monterey Bay, Morro Bay or Santa Barbara -- were included in the report.

The full NRDC report: http://www.nrdc.or … /ttw2009.pdf
___

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau on the World Wide Web at http://www.mcclatchydc.com

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

Velanarris
Aug 11, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
Interesting that the waters off of the most heavily and historically industried area would be the cleanest. Quite surprising.
Rank not rated yet
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Do some geologists actually act a lot like Randy Marsh?
    createdFeb 11, 2012
  • Discrepancy between oxygen and carbon-dioxide levels
    createdFeb 09, 2012
  • where gems are found in the world
    createdFeb 09, 2012
  • Wind Waves in Reservoir ~ Wind run-up and Wind set-up
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Balance of oxygen in the atmosphere
    createdFeb 01, 2012
  • The case for a methanol-based economy
    createdJan 30, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Earth

More news stories

Salvage workers begin pumping fuel from Italian shipwreck

Salvage workers Sunday began pumping fuel from the shipwrecked Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia, a day ahead of schedule, officials said.

Space & Earth / Environment

created 7 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation

Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.

Space & Earth / Environment

created 15 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study

More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 73

NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe: scientists

US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 58

Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago

(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (14) | comments 21 | with audio podcast report


Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell

Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...

Overeating may double risk of memory loss

New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. The study was released today and will be ...

Lab study raises questions over nano-particle impact

Tests involving chickens have raised questions about the impact on health from engineered nano-particles, the ultra-fine grains commonly used in drugs and processed foods, scientists said on Sunday.

Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...