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EPA Agrees To Improve Beach Tests

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The Associated Press

Published: September 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - Beachgoers will be told more about whether it is safe to go in the water under a court settlement between environmentalists and the EPA.

The settlement requires the Environmental Protection Agency to develop criteria by 2012 to protect the public against a wider range of potential health hazards from ocean swimming than provided by existing standards.

Currently, EPA criteria for the safety of ocean water is based on the likelihood of contracting gastrointestinal ailments.

The settlement requires EPA to base its criteria on more illnesses, including hepatitis, skin rashes, ear infections and pink eye. EPA also will have to deliver results of seawater tests the same day they are done.

"The new studies will have to look at the whole range of how people get sick, which will lead to stricter and more protective criteria," Aaron Colangelo, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Wednesday. Although EPA develops the criteria for whether seawater is deemed safe or not, states and local jurisdictions make their own decisions about how and when to post warnings and close beaches.

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