A report by The Natural Resources Defense Council says in 2008 there were 208 days of closures or advisories in New Jersey as compared to 142 in 2007. 117 of the days were because of a criminal medical dumping event in Cape May.
“At the beach families should be able to relax and not worry about swimming in human and animal waste that can make them sick,” says Heather Saffert, Staff Scientist, Clean Ocean Action.
Ocean County had the highest number of beach monitoring samples that exceeded the state's daily maximum bacterial standards, followed by Monmouth, Cape May and Atlantic Counties.
“Developers are loving the Shore to death, and beach-goers are paying the price,” says Doug O'Malley, Field Director for Environment New Jersey.
The report found a 10 percent decrease in closing and advisory days at beaches nationwide in 2008 but says the weather and less water monitoring are the cause not improved water quality.
For the Natural Resources Defense Council’s full report go to www.nrdc.org.
By: Janet Fried
No comments:
Post a Comment