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Nitrate News -- August, 2000

US Beach Closings Soar With Focus on Pollution (NY Times, August 4, 2000, By BARBARA WHITAKER) LOS ANGELES, Aug. 3 -- The number of pollution-related beach closings and advisories increased by 50 percent nationwide from 1997 to 1999, according to a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The environmental group's 10th annual report on water quality at vacation beaches, Testing the Waters 2000, showed that more than half of those closings or advisories were in California. And while the overall numbers from 1998 to 1999 dropped nationwide -- a trend the organization attributed to drier conditions last year -- California's numbers continued to increase, jumping to 3,547 in 1999 from 3,273 in 1998. But the numbers do not necessarily mean there was an increase in pollutants flowing into the ocean here. Rather, the council's lawyers said, the increase reflects an increased amount of testing to reveal the problem. "California's record number of beach closures and advisories in 1999 suggests that the more you look for pollution at the beach, the more you find," said David Beckman, a senior council lawyer here, noting that the state began a comprehensive monitoring program that year. Nationwide, monitoring and reporting have also increased over the last 10 years, said Sarah Chasis, a senior lawyer with the council in Washington who has overseen the report since the beginning. "That's the good news," Ms. Chasis said. "The bad news is that with that increased monitoring and reporting, we have more closings and advisories indicating we have serious coastal water problems that remain to be addressed." In 1988, the first year the survey was published, 484 closings or advisories were reported nationwide. In 1999, there were 6,160, about two-thirds of which resulted from bacteria levels that exceeded health standards. While the overall number in 1999 was down from 7,236 in 1998, a year when the El Niño weather pattern produced heavy rainfall, the trend has been upward over 10 years. Nowhere is the problem more prevalent than in Southern California. With vast amounts of paved lands and storm water systems that were designed to speed runoff directly to the ocean, beach closings have become a fact of life, particularly during the rainy winter months. The rainwater picks up contaminants, everything from oily residue on city streets to lawn fertilizer to animal waste, on its way to the ocean. But even when there is no rain, swimming near storm drains in Southern California can be hazardous.. Last summer, for example, Huntington Beach was closed because of high bacteria counts that could not be explained. In 1999, 11 states had comprehensive monitoring. This year, Florida and Massachusetts enacted laws establishing comprehensive monitoring programs. The group lists Louisiana, Oregon, Texas and Washington as "beach bums" because they have limited or no monitoring of beaches and no public notification programs. The study found that the primary cause of the closings was sewage and polluted storm water runoff. Seventy percent of the closings and advisories were the result of monitoring showing that bacteria levels exceeded beach water quality standards. Pathogens contained in polluted water can result in a range of illnesses, from gastroenteritis and dysentery to hepatitis and ear and upper respiratory infections. The report was based on statistics provided to the Environmental Protection Agency by states and some individual surveys done by the council. Now that an expanded picture is beginning to emerge, Mr. Beckman said, it is time to start taking action. "We need to start doing some grass-roots intervention with respect to the problem and not greet it every year with 'It's a regrettable development' kind of an attitude," he said. Earlier this week in California, state officials announced a 15-year plan to curb runoff pollution. The program, which is viewed as the first of its kind in the country linking efforts to clean up inland runoff along with beach pollution, will be carried out in three phases. "We've recognized and our cities recognize that what runs off streets in the High Sierras winds up in our coastal waters and foul our beaches," said Mary D. Nichols, California's secretary for resources. Ms. Nichols estimated it would take 30 years to get full compliance with the new measures and would cost about $14 billion. Compliance is required under the federal Clean Water Act and coastal regulations. Eliminating runoff problems at farms, logging operations and marinas will be emphasized in the first phase of the program, said Ken Harris, chief of the Watershed Pollution Prevention Section. In later phases, cities and developers will be expected to take steps to control polluted runoff. Initially, most offenders will be given an opportunity to make changes on their own. Enforcement measures and penalties will be phased in. Several coastal cities in Southern California most affected by urban runoff problems, including Los Angeles, are already regulated separately under the Clean Water Act. The new program will offer them an opportunity to refine their existing regulatory processes and provide additional public education, Mr. Harris said. Mr. Beckman praised the plan as a step in the right direction, but voiced concern about the lack of regulatory features. "I think you have to say the impact of the plan right now is at best uncertain," he said. "In order to be successful, it will have to be funded and enforced. It remains to be seen whether that's going to occur to the extent necessary.' The federal environmental agency has given the state $10.6 million for the first year of the program and the state has about $290 million in bond money that will be used over the next three to four years, state officials said. Ms. Nichols defended the state's approach to compliance saying the plan would give industries a chance to "become partners in the effort." "This isn't 1970," she said, "and in the year 2000 we have a much higher degree of public awareness of the significance of the pollution problem. Everyone owns the problem and has a stake in cleaning it up."

Water riots seen spreading as world wells run dry (Environmental News Network, Monday, August 14, 2000, By Tony Austin, Reuters) Global fresh water supplies are being used up so fast that almost half a billion people already depend on nonrenewable sources, an international conference was told today. Water riots such as those in China's Shandong province last month will become more common as people struggle for control of dwindling supplies, said Lester Brown, chairman of the U.S.-based Worldwatch Institute. Thousands of Chinese farmers clashed with police in July after officials cut off water leaking from a dam near Anqiu village in Shandong province, according to a human rights group. "This is an example of how desperate people become when they are deprived of water," Brown told a news conference at the start of the week-long meeting. "This is going to happen more and more. Water suddenly becomes an issue when the wells run dry." Over-pumping of aquifers in China, India, the Middle East and United States now exceeds 160 billion tons of water per year, according to Brown, who delivered a keynote address when the conference opened Monday. Since it takes roughly 1,000 tons of water to produce one ton of grain, this excessive pumping is equal to 160 million tons of grain, or half the U.S. grain harvest. "In consumption terms, 480 million of the world's 6 billion people are being fed with food produced with the unsustainable use of water," Brown said. "We are already using up the water which belongs to our children," he added. South African Education Minister Kader Asmal said that by 2025, one in three of the world's population "will struggle just to find water to drink and bathe, much less grow food." But Asmal, winner of this year's $150,000 Stockholm Water Prize for his contribution to the awareness of water issues, challenged the view that shortages must lead to conflict. "I have seen sovereign states and ethnic groups within nations go to war over every resource — oil, land, humans, diamonds, gas, livestock or gold, but never ... over water development and dams," he said. Nations in practice preferred diplomacy, realizing that stopping a neighbor's water meant cutting off life, he said in a speech at the conference, which is organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute. Industry is already adapting to the challenge of water shortage, Paul Tebo, a corporate vice president of U.S. chemical company DuPont told a news conference. "The days when water could be used, contaminated and discharged are over," he said. The seminar will tackle the impact of finite water resources on all aspects of human behavior, particularly the most efficient ways of producing food. At present about 70 percent of all water diverted from rivers and pumped from underground is used for irrigation, 20 percent goes to industry and 10 percent for residential use. As countries become wealthier they consume more beef, pork, poultry, eggs and dairy products, which take more grain to produce. The American diet, rich in meat products, requires 1760 pounds of grain per person a year, whereas the Indian diet based on rice requires only 440 pounds. "We have to become more animal-protein efficient," said Brown, adding that the competition for water would be reflected in world grain markets.

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