Polluted beaches sicken 1.5M in Calif.
Pastor Dale Morgan
Polluted beaches sicken 1.5M in Calif. *
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:01 p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As many as 1.5 million people are sickened by
bacterial pollution on Southern California beaches each year, resulting
in millions of dollars in public health care costs, a new study has found.
The study prepared by researchers at the University of California-Los
Angeles and Stanford University is believed to be the first to examine
illnesses at a large swath of the nation's most popular beaches.
Previous studies have linked health problems to contamination at
individual beaches.
"This helps us understand (the) risks and identify beaches where cleanup
can yield the most benefit," said Linwood Pendleton, an environmental
economist at UCLA and an author of the study.
The study, posted Monday on the Web site of the journal Environmental
Science and Technology, covers 100 miles of shoreline in Los Angeles and
Orange counties, which is visited by an estimated 80 million people
annually.
The study found that between 627,800 and 1,479,200 "excess" cases of
gastrointestinal illness occur at the beaches each year. That is beyond
the number that would normally be expected.
Gastrointestinal illness is most commonly associated with swimming in
contaminated water and causes such symptoms as stomach cramps, diarrhea
and vomiting. The study did not examine the prevalence of other
illnesses associated with polluted water, including eye, ear and nose
infections.
Healthcare costs for illnesses related to beach bacteria range from an
estimated $21 million to $414 million annually, depending on the method
of reporting used, researchers found. Those estimates include direct
losses, including missed work, medical treatment costs and doctor visits.
The study focused on 28 beaches during 2000. Researchers used bacteria
measurements from surf, considered beach attendance estimates and
extrapolated the health effects using two computer models _ one favored
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the other by the World
Health Organization.
Pendleton said the wide range in health and costs estimates existed
because one method relies more on precise controls to account for
illnesses and environmental conditions and less on self-reporting.
The study is expected to be published Aug. 15.
Among other findings:
_ Beaches at Doheny, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Cabrillo and Las Tunas had
the worst water quality, while Newport, Hermosa, Abalone Cove,
Manhattan, Torrance and Bolsa Chica had the best.
_ The three beaches with the lowest incidence of gastrointestinal
illness were San Clemente's city beach, Nichols Canyon and Las Tunas,
largely due to a smaller number of visitors.
_ Cleaning up storm water runoff, the chief cause of dirty ocean water
in Southern California, would prevent 394,000 to 804,000
gastrointestinal cases and save $13 million to $28 million in annual
health costs in Los Angeles County.
The state has spent an estimated $51 million on 66 projects in the past
six years under its Clean Beaches Initiative, said Bill Rukeyser,
spokesman for the state Water Resources Control Board.