An environmental group is planning to sue the government because it’s too slow to warn people about high levels of bacteria in the water. The environmental group says government standards for beach closings are outdated. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
An environmental group is planning to sue the government because it’s
too slow to warn people about high levels of bacteria in the water.
The environmental group says government standards for beach closings
are outdated. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports:
The current beach water standards haven’t been revised for 20 years.
Some scientists and environmental groups say that’s endangering public
health.
Nancy Stoner is with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Her group
recently announced plans to sue the EPA for failing to protect
beachgoers from contaminated water. Stoner says the current standards
are based on outdated methods.
“They’re too slow. They tell people whether the water quality was good
24 or 48 hours before they’re in the water, not whether it’s good
today. And they focus on bacteria only, not on viruses, not on
parasites like cryptosporidium and giardia.”
Stoner says the EPA failed to meet a deadline for issuing revised
standards. An EPA spokesperson says the agency is in the process of
revising the standards based on the latest science.
For the GLRC, I’m Rebecca Williams.