AUSTIN — The waters around some of the public beaches in the Corpus Christi area are among the least healthy in the state, according to a new report being released this morning by an environmental group.
Water quality at Texas' public beaches improved in 2008, but the state still ranked behind 17 other states when it comes to healthy beach water, according to an annual report released this morning.
Of the 169 public coastal beaches that are monitored for high levels of bacteria caused by human activities, 6 percent of the monitoring samples exceeded the state's daily maximum bacterial standards, according to the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental action group.
Levels that exceed the daily limit can cause people to become ill and can lead to beach closings.
This year's report is an improvement from 2007, when 9 percent of the samples exceeded the daily limits. Eight percent of the tests exceeded the daily limits in 2006.
Some of the worst pollution was in the Corpus Christi area in Nueces and San Patricio counties. The beaches with the highest percentage of samples exceeding the limit were:
Ropes Park, 30 percent; JFK Causeway Southwest, 23 percent; Cole Park, 20 percent; Laguna Shores, 15 percent, all in Nueces County.
The failing record at Galveston beaches was Appfel Park, 15 percent; Clara Street, 14 percent; Crystal Beach-O'Neill Raod, 13 percent and West End, 13 percent.
Though Texas ranked 18th among the 30 states studied by the council, the Texas General Land Office was lauded for “conducting an unparalleled outreach campaign about its beachwater quality monitoring program.”
Jim Suydam, a spokesman for Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, said the state this summer launched a Web site that gives Texans almost real-time information on the quality of water at specific beaches.
Suydam said public service announcements by 97 radio and television stations coordinated by the Texas Association of Broadcasters had driven 323,963 hits to the clean beaches site through July 8.
Suydam said the land office clean water notifications currently exceeds federal legislation being considered by the U.S. House: HR2093. “We think improved public awareness of water quality on Texas beaches improves water quality,” Suydam said.
The water quality testing shows bacteria and pollution caused by human beings, Suydam said, mostly due to rainwater runoff.
“Any time it rains you've got stuff washing off from city streets and city sewers and wastewater systems and that goes right out to the waters, the bays, the estuaries,” Suydam said. “But the bodies of water actually work to neutralize those pollutants within days, usually.”
What is not regularly tested for as a water quality issue is naturally occurring bacteria, such as Vibrio vulnificus, more commonly known as the flesh-eating bacteria. The Texas Department of Health monitors the bacteria in Galveston Bay, primarily for the contamination of seafood, according to the council report.
Suydam said the state is mostly testing for bacteria that causes intestinal illness.
“What this really monitors is water quality affected by humans. That flesh-eating bacteria is something that naturally occurs and there's nothing that we really did that makes it bloom or not bloom,” Suydam said.
By R.G. Ratcliffe - Express-News
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