Tell Congress to Stand Up for Clean Beaches

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

During the summertime, there’s one thing all Pennsylvanians can agree with: we love visiting the beach. If it’s getting up to visit the beaches of Lake Erie or going down to the Delaware or Jersey shore, we’re fortunate to have great nearby beach getaways.

But thousands of beaches across the country (including some of the favorite beach destinations for Pennsylvanians) are polluted with harmful bacteria — in many cases from stormwater runoff and sewage overflows. And now, the lobbyists for water utility companies are lobbying Congress to allow sewage plants to continue polluting our waters.

Tell Congress to stand up for clean beaches at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=33815.

A new study by PennEnvironment and the Environment America Research & Policy Center found that the water at more than 500 U.S. beach sites had levels of fecal bacteria that can make swimmers sick on at least one-quarter of the days tested.¹

Our study looked at testing results from more than 4,000 beaches, including beaches at the Jersey and Delaware shores and Lake Erie, as well as from both coasts and the other Great Lakes. At nearly 57 percent of them, the water contained bacteria at levels the Environmental Protection Agency says can make swimmers sick.²

Fecal bacteria indicate the presence of pathogens in water that can make people sick — and does so in an estimated 57 million cases each year.³

Under the Clean Water Act, permits for sewage plants must be reviewed every five years so that we can reduce pollution and help keep our waters safe for swimming. But water utilities are now lobbying for a new measure that would extend that period to 10 years, leaving sewage dischargers operating for a decade or more at long-outdated pollution control standards.⁴

All of this boils down to one thing: More bacteria polluting our beaches and putting our health at risk.

Congress should be doing more to keep our water clean, not weakening the protections we already have. Tell your representative: No more sewage pollution.

From investing in cleanup to building green infrastructure, we should be doing more to keep our waters clean. The last thing we need to do is allow more sewage overflow in our waters.

PS — Make sure to share this alert with friends and family members who enjoy our beaches as much as you and I do, and ask them to sign on as well!

1. “Safe for Swimming? Water Quality at Our Beaches,” Environment America, last accessed August 7, 2019.
2. “Safe for Swimming? Water Quality at Our Beaches,” Environment America, last accessed August 7, 2019.
3. “Safe for Swimming? Water Quality at Our Beaches,” Environment America, last accessed August 7, 2019.
4. “H.R.1764 – To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to permitting terms, and for other purposes,” Congress.gov, last accessed July 19, 2019.