The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services is preparing to re-adopt its beach rules. Clean Ocean Action says the rules are old and are inconsistent with the United States Environmental Protection Agency guidelines to protect public health.
"The outdated existing rules are inadequate, fail to protect public health, and lack common sense," says Cindy Zipf, Executive Director, Clean Ocean Action.
She says the current beach rules rely on old testing methods that take 24 hours to produce results and the state should adopt rapid testing methods as soon as possible.
Zipf adds the current rules require two days of consecutive water samples exceeding allowable levels of fecal contamination but she would like to see health advisories posted at beaches after one sampling day of high results.
She says she would also like to see the state create public health rules for highly used recreation waters, make the data publically availabel and increase testing.
Finally, Zipf says better communication is also needed to inform the public about the water quality test results in a timely manner.
To see all of Clean Ocean Action's recommended changes to the Beach Rules go to:
http://www.cleanoceanaction.org/fileadmin/editor_group1/Science_Comment_Letters/Beach_Rule_Seven_Simple_Ways.pdf
By: Janet Fried
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