Environment Jersey Joins Rep. Frank Pallone To Call For Full BEACH Act Funding To Test Shore Water Quality
Bradley Beach – This morning, Congressman Frank Pallone joined NJDEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, EPA Region II Administrator Lisa Garcia and environmental advocates, including Environment New Jersey and Surfrider Foundation, to announce new BEACH Act grant funding to assist New Jersey in water quality monitoring at the Shore and the need to pass the bipartisan BEACH Act (HR 7203).
The legislation, introduced by Rep. Pallone earlier this year, will reauthorize the program for five years at $30 million. It expands eligible uses of BEACH Act grants to include identification of sources of contamination. BEACH Act funds are currently eligible to be used for the monitoring and notification of contamination, but not identification of sources. Adding identification of sources as an eligible use of funds will help address the root causes of a contamination issue that BEACH Act funds are already being used to monitor.
The legislation also expands the eligible testing locations to include shallow recreational waters adjacent to beaches where children and adults typically play and swim at the beach, and therefore are more at-risk for contamination and enhance local decision-making and require EPA to consider innovations in rapid testing, especially for same day testing.
April Nicklaus, a Campaign Organizer for Environment New Jersey, spoke at this morning’s event and released the following statement:
“Our waters should be safe for swimming, yet too often, pathogens from pollution put our health at risk. The Shore right now is already packed, especially in this heat wave. Now is the time to provide federal funding to ensure that we can always let the public know when it’s safe – and not safe – to get in the water. BEACH Act data has been vital to documenting this problem, and the bipartisan BEACH Act will help New Jersey to provide faster same-day testing and to better identify the solutions to solve pathogen pollution.
Too often, however, water pollution ruins our enjoyment of the beach – and it can even make us sick. Fecal contamination from sources such as urban runoff, sewage overflows and factory farms can contain pathogens that threaten the health of swimmers, or that force beaches to be closed to protect public health. Bacteria at beaches is far too common and makes us sick more often than it should.
In 2022, according to EPA data compiled in our Safe for Swimming report, 1,761 out of 3,192 tested beaches nationwide (55%) experienced at least one day on which fecal contamination reached potentially unsafe levels. In addition, approximately one out of every nine beaches tested nationwide – had potentially unsafe levels of fecal contamination on at least a quarter of the days on which testing took place. The numbers were better at the Jersey Shore. For 217 tested beaches, only 31 (14%) had potentially unsafe levels of fecal indicator bacteria.
While ultimately we need to stop this pollution at the source by investing in stronger storm wastewater infrastructure and preventing runoff pollution, we need regular testing to know when and where our water is contaminated.
That’s why we’re so thrilled that Representative Pallone is working with other representatives such as Rep. Andy Kim and Rep. Josh Gottheimer to pass this common sense, bipartisan bill.
We also need to increase the funding for this legislation. Congress authorized $30 million to beach testing but has only provided communities with one-third of that amount. We need to fully fund the BEACH Act to ensure that all of our beaches are tested regularly and that same-day results are available.
By fully funding the BEACH Act, we can easily see where our water is safe for swimming.”