EPA Sued Over Unsafe Beaches

The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit on Thursday, August 3 in a U.S. District Court claiming that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed in its duty to protect the public against the "substantial adverse health effects" from contact with contaminated beach-water. A law pased by Congress in 2000 requires the EPA to update its beach-water health standards by 2005. The agency missed the deadline and current standards are two decades old, according to court documents. That same day the group issued a report that found beach closings due to hazardous bacterial contamination in Los Angeles County jumped 50 percent in 2005. Across the nation 20,000 beaches were closed or had posted health advisories. EPA spokesman Dale Kemery did not address the lawsuit, but said in a statement "the state of the nation's beach health remains high, even as the number of beaches monitored increased by 11 percent in 2005." The agency "has made significant progress in carrying out its responsibilities under the" 2000 law, he said. The lawsuit asks the court to order the agency to complete the water-quality studies and publish revised safety rules. Many sources were listed for the cause of this pollution including animal waste, factories, septic tanks, sewage, pesticides and oil and metals deposited on city streets. City storm drains send their runoff directly into bodies of water all across the country.