Louisiana beaches are ranked among the dirtiest in America according to this year’s “Testing the Waters” survey by the Natural Resource Defense Council.
Louisiana’s beach water quality exceeded health standards only once — at one beach — over the last three years.
A total of 2,232 closing days were issued at 11 beaches across the state after the BP oil disaster, which began with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010.
Many beaches remained closed throughout 2011 because of oil washing ashore and continued cleanup efforts.
Other beaches were also recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and Gustav and Ike in 2008. Many beaches in Cameron Parish have not returned to pre-storm levels, while others are inaccessible.
Jacques Berry, Office of the Lieutenant Governor communications director, said beaches have recovered dramatically since the oil spill last year.
“The beaches are looking 100 percent better. Every once in a while a tar ball will show up on the beach, but the crews that helped clean the beaches did a great job,” said Berry. “The study only included two beaches out of the 7,500 miles of shoreline in Louisiana. … But it is true that we are still recovering from the worst man-made disaster in history.”
Tourism in Louisiana has naturally faced a setback this year.
“We are studying the trend,” Berry said. “Fourteen months after the spill we have recovered fairly well. There is still a regional interest in Louisiana beaches, but we need to attract a national interest again. We have to convince people that Louisiana is open for business.”
Beaches in other states are also suffering.
Bacterial pollution is increasing in beaches across the country. In 2010 the number of beach closings and advisories reached the second highest level in NRDC history at 24,091 closings.
From April 2010 until the study concluded on June 15, 2011, there have been a total of 9,474 days of oil-related beach notices, advisories and closures at Gulf Coast beaches.
Seventy-five percent of those closures are because of bacteria levels exceeding health standards.
High bacterial levels put swimmers at risk for waterborne illnesses.
According to the NRDC, illnesses associated with polluted beach water include skin rashes, pink eye, respiratory infections, meningitis, hepatitis and the stomach flu.
The Environmental Protection Agency, following pressure from the NRDC, has agreed to update its beach water quality standards by 2012 in order to keep up with increasing levels of contamination and further protect tourists.
The EPA is required to conduct studies and surveys, produce water tests with same-day results and protect beachgoers from a broad range of waterborne illnesses.