Monday, July 02, 2012

Healthiest beaches to swim at - Worst beaches to swim at!

According to Wikipedia the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) "... is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing. Founded in 1970, NRDC today has 1.3 million members and online activists nationwide and a staff of more than 300 lawyers, scientists and other policy experts.

Worth Magazine has named NRDC one of America's 100 best charities, Charity Navigator has given NRDC four out of four stars as of 2007, and the Wise Giving Alliance of the Better Business Bureau reports that NRDC meets its highest standards for accountability and use of donor funds..."


Loving that resume and I wish other non-profits followed suit but alas, we live in a country where ethics and morals are selectively used when dollars-and-cents are involved.


The NRDC came out with some lists and a report and quite frankly, it's bad; very bad! The site includes names, locations and scores. Be careful when you go for an open water swim.


From the NRDC website:
"... NRDC's annual analysis of water quality and public notification data at coastal U.S. beaches found that the number of beach closing and advisory days in 2011 reached the third-highest level in the 22-year history of our report, totaling 23,481 days (a 3% decrease from 2010). More than two-thirds of closings and advisories were issued because bacteria levels in beachwater exceeded public health standards, indicating the presence of human or animal waste in the water. The portion of all monitoring samples that exceeded national recommended health standards for designated beach areas remained stable at 8% in 2011, compared with 8% in 2010 and 7% for the four previous years. In addition, the number of beaches monitored in 2011 increased slightly (2%) from a five-year low in 2010. The largest known source of pollution was stormwater runoff (47%, compared with 36% last year). The 2011 results confirm that our nation's beaches continue to experience significant water pollution that puts swimmers and local economies at risk. ..." 
[Link]



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