NEW YORK, New York, June 4, 2008 (ENS) - Using a helicopter, ships and the latest bacterial detection technology, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will go farther to protect water quality at New York and New Jersey beaches in 2008 than ever before.
The agency has a new rapid method for testing beach water for bacteria and has made improvements to a federal, state and local plan to spot and collect floating debris before it can wash up on area beaches.
"New Jersey and New York beaches are among the best and highest quality beaches in the world, and among the most extensively monitored," said Alan Steinberg, EPA regional administrator. "EPA's investments and year-round work with our federal, state and local partners has paid off, so that people who go to the beach can relax and enjoy all the beauty that New Jersey and New York's coastlines have to offer."
Working together with other federal, and state and local agencies, EPA's program to monitor for floating debris has been expanded to cover a wider area and will now operate seven days a week.
The results from EPA's 2007 assessment of its new rapid method of testing beach water for bacteria that cause gastrointestinal illness show promise as a beach monitoring tool, the agency said today.
Conventional methods require 24 hours for results, while the new methods can provide results in as little as three hours after sample collection.
EPA will continue its assessment of this rapid test technology this summer to further refine this new method and evaluate results under various environmental conditions.
Beachgoers need all the help they can get, in view of a warning in May from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, that more recreational water illnesses outbreaks were reported in 2007 than ever before, and the numbers could increase in the coming years.
Recreational water illnesses are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with germs in the water of lakes, rivers, or oceans, swimming pools, or spas.
"The leading cause of recreational water illness outbreaks is cryptosporidium or crypto, a chlorine-resistant parasite, primarily associated with treated swimming places, such as pools and water parks," explained Michele Hlavsa, an epidemiologist at the CDC. During the 2004 through 2007 time period, the number of crypto cases tripled.
"People need to practice healthy swimming habits, such as not swimming when they have diarrhea, not swallowing the water, taking a shower before swimming, washing their hands after using the toilet or changing diapers, and washing their children thoroughly - especially their bottoms - with soap and water before swimming," said Hlavsa.
Symptoms generally begin an average of seven days after becoming infected with the parasite. Crypto is characterized by watery diarrhea lasting one to three weeks, stomach cramps or pain, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, fever, and weight loss.
Hlavsa says some people with crypto will have no symptoms at all, and most people who have healthy immune systems will recover without treatment. People with weakened immune systems are at risk for severe or life-threatening illness.
The EPA has finished phase one of its study of the new three-hour rapid method of testing beach water for harmful bacteria, using water samples taken at 20 Ocean and Monmouth County bathing beaches.
"The results from this initial study are very encouraging and showed that the results of the rapid test very in most cases very similar to the results from the longer conventional test," EPA Region 2 said in a statement today. A follow-up study is planned this year to focus on variability related to tides and rainfall on bacteria levels.
The EPA helicopter Coastal Crusader will be used to collect water quality samples for both the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to help them monitor the health of their shellfish beds.
EPA scientists will collect water samples along the New Jersey coast and in Raritan Bay; Sandy Hook Bay; Barnegat Bay; Great Bay; Delaware Bay; and along the Long Island Coast from Rockaway to Shinnecock.
Throughout the summer, the helicopter will fly over the New Jersey/New York Harbor Complex six days a week to identify slicks of floating debris and coordinate cleanups with other federal, state and local agencies in an effort to prevent wash-ups on the beaches of New York and New Jersey.
EPA also reports any observed oil slicks to the U.S. Coast Guard for cleanup. The addition this year of a skimmer vessel will help the agency respond to slicks in the Newark Bay. To ensure coverage seven days a week, the New Jersey DEP will fly over the Harbor on Sundays.
New Jersey coastal waters are listed as impaired due to low dissolved oxygen concentrations. EPA will use its helicopter to take samples at 20 stations located one to three miles off the New Jersey coast and test for dissolved oxygen and temperature. These samples will be taken four times in late summer when dissolved oxygen levels are expected to be at their lowest.
Total maximum daily loads are currently being developed for nutrients going into the NY/NJ Harbor and the New York Bight. Nutrients can cause blooms of phytoplankton, which die and decompose, resulting in low dissolved oxygen.
EPA will maintain its summer-long assessments of nutrient dissolved oxygen conditions within the New York Bight, using its boats to assess the water and collect water samples to determine what impact nutrients have on the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water.
The New Jersey DEP will receive $490,000 in 2008 in EPA grants through the federal BEACH Act to continue its beach monitoring and notification program and to conduct intensive sanitation surveys at high-priority beaches. New York will receive $560,000 to conduct similar protective activities.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.