NH-DES beach inspection

[TiltonBB]

From the Boston Herald:

Over half of all Massachusetts beaches had an unsafe level of fecal bacteria last year, and 47 beaches reached the danger zone at least a quarter of the time they were tested, according to an Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center report released Wednesday.

“Our researchers looked at tests for bacteria that indicate the likely presence of fecal matter in the water,” said Devon Bell, associate with Environment Massachusetts, standing in front of a cloudy Constitution Beach in East Boston. “And they found that Constitution Beach had enough fecal matter indicator bacteria to put swimmers’ health at risk on 24% of days tested last year. And this was a widespread issue across the state.”

The report analyzed how many days over 3,000 beaches across the U.S. hit a dangerous threshold of fecal indicator bacteria. Nationwide, 61% of tested beaches tested positive for contamination at least once in 2024.

The threshold, the EPA’s “Beach Action Value,” is associated with an estimated illness rate of 32 out of every 1,000 swimmers. Swimmers in polluted water may develop gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease, ear and eye infection, and skin rash, the report states.

The 47 beaches in Massachusetts with the higher numbers of dangerous pollution days spread across the state’s coast, researchers said, including North Shore, South Shore, Boston, Cape Cod, Buzzards Bay and the Islands.

[tis]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

From the Boston Herald:

Over half of all Massachusetts beaches had an unsafe level of fecal bacteria last year, and 47 beaches reached the danger zone at least a quarter of the time they were tested, according to an Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center report released Wednesday.

“Our researchers looked at tests for bacteria that indicate the likely presence of fecal matter in the water,” said Devon Bell, associate with Environment Massachusetts, standing in front of a cloudy Constitution Beach in East Boston. “And they found that Constitution Beach had enough fecal matter indicator bacteria to put swimmers’ health at risk on 24% of days tested last year. And this was a widespread issue across the state.”

The report analyzed how many days over 3,000 beaches across the U.S. hit a dangerous threshold of fecal indicator bacteria. Nationwide, 61% of tested beaches tested positive for contamination at least once in 2024.

The threshold, the EPA’s “Beach Action Value,” is associated with an estimated illness rate of 32 out of every 1,000 swimmers. Swimmers in polluted water may develop gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease, ear and eye infection, and skin rash, the report states.

The 47 beaches in Massachusetts with the higher numbers of dangerous pollution days spread across the state’s coast, researchers said, including North Shore, South Shore, Boston, Cape Cod, Buzzards Bay and the Islands.

Yes, so what is the common denominator. Why is this happening? Did it always happen and we just didn't know it because of less testing?

[8gv]

It seems that we might soon see this news story as part of a swimming pool advertisement.