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Department of Ecology News Release - May 14, 2010
10-115
OLYMPIA - What are Washington's most popular saltwater beaches? The state wants to know so it can test the water for pollution-caused bacteria that can make people sick.
The state BEACH (Beach Environmental Assessment, Communication and Health) Program notifies the public when bacteria results are high, and educates people about what they can do to avoid getting sick from playing in saltwater.
The program is jointly coordinated by the Departments of Ecology and Health. It is implemented by local health agencies, tribal nations and volunteers.
This summer, the federally funded program proposes to monitor 52 of the state's most popular saltwater beaches. The number is down from 70 beaches it monitored last year and 53 the year before.
The program targets popular beaches near sources of pollution. The goals are to monitor for bacteria and, if found, correct the problems.
Besides the program's usual website updates and e-mails, it will enhance its public notifications this summer about beach health problems using web-based tools such as Twitter, and Ecology's blogsite, EcoConnect. See the program's first post: Fecal Matters: Which Saltwater Beaches Should the Washington Beach Program Monitor for Fecal Bacteria?
"We think the new tools will help make it easier for people to focus on the beaches they want to use or that they care about," said Jessica Archer, coordinator of the BEACH Program. "And we want to keep educating everybody about actions they can take to keep the water at their beach clean."
Archer advises people to scoop, bag and trash your pet's poop; inspect and maintain your home septic system; pump your recreational boat holding tank into an authorized pump station; and pick up all of your trash at the beach, especially diapers.
See the list of beaches the state proposes to monitor this summer by visiting the BEACH Program website at www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/beach/. E-mail comments or questions to Jessica Archer at jessica.archer@ecy.wa.gov or mail them to Archer at Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47710, Olympia, Wash., 98504-7710.
Everybody can help keep our waters clean. Learn more at Ecology's education Web site, Washington Waters - Ours to Protect.
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Media contacts:
Sandy Howard, Department of Ecology, 360-407-6408,
sandy.howard@ecy.wa.gov
Donn Moyer, Department of Health, 360-236-4076,
donn.moyer@doh.wa.gov
For more information:
BEACH Program Web site: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/beach/
ECOconnect "Fecal Matters" blog: http://ecologywa.blogspot.com/search/label/Fecal%20matters
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
