Swim At Your Own Risk’: Environment Texas releases new report
Texans may want to be cautious of unsafe bacteria before hitting the beach. An Aug. 30 report by Environment Texas Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group analyzed 2017 water testing data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality...
Texans may want to be cautious of unsafe bacteria before hitting the beach.
An Aug. 30 report by Environment Texas Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group analyzed 2017 water testing data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The report, titled “Swim at Your Own Risk,” found that of the 120 beaches tested, 75 qualified as unsafe to swim at least once, 12 for five or more days. Forty-nine percent of 1,450 freshwater sites tested positive for unsafe levels of fecal bacteria.
“We should be able to expect that all of our waterways, including those that run through our cities and communities, are clean and free from dangerous pollution,” said Environment Texas Research & Policy Executive Director Luke Metzger. “But the fact is that many of the state’s rivers, lakes and beaches are sometimes too polluted to go swimming, tubing, or wading safely.”
The report cites urban and agricultural pollution, such as agricultural runoff from livestock feedlots as the sources for the elevated bacteria levels.
Photo: Swim at your own risk sign infront of the ocean Credit: Public Domain
