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State to test beach water quality

This year the state beach monitoring program will begin regular testing of the water at Maple Beach, and bathers can check on the internet to see if they�re taking a health risk when they take a dip.

�If your child gets a stomach-ache or an ear infection, were they swimming, and where? It could be they got it from a friend or they could have gotten it from swimming,� said Lynn Schneider, organizer of the state�s BEACH program. The program�s name is an acronym for Beach Environmental Assessment, Communic-ation and Health, which uses federal grants to fulfill a congressional mandate for a uniform system protecting the users of marine waters from health hazards.

Last year five counties participated in the BEACH pilot program, using local volunteers to collect samples that are analyzed for indicator bacteria. Test results were posted on the program�s web site, with green representing healthy water, yellow and orange progressively worsening water quality and red, the beach closed for swimmers.

This year the program will include participation from 14 counties and Maple Beach and Birch Bay have been selected as the beaches to watch in Whatcom County, based on potential sources of pollution and how much they are used by swimmers in the summer. �Maple Beach got on the list in part because it gets so much use and there�s not been a lot of testing there,� Schneider said. She added that the density of septic fields in the area was a trigger to start testing marine water. �That�s reason enough,� she said. �With any septic tank you never know if it�s failing. We think the water�s clean but we�d like to know.�

Schneider said testing would start in May and the new web site would be modeled on and linked to the popular shellfish program web site, www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/recshell.htm. To learn more about the BEACH program and volunteer opportunities visit their web site at www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/beach/.

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