We pile into the car after a day at the beach with a little sunburn, a little sand… but we may be bringing home more than we know – maybe it’s swimmer’s ear, or a stomach bug, or worse.

Many beaches become polluted from stormwater runoff and combined sewage overflows. According to the Mass. Water Resources Authority, approximately 26 million gallons of untreated or partially treated sewage is discharged with each heavy rainfall – about 1.1 billion gallons discharged annually. Despite this threat to public health, nearly half of the beaches in the state are not tested often enough, or are tested using an outdated and inaccurate test. Even when beaches are tested, the results usually are not posted for the public to see.

Massachusetts’s beach resources have tremendous economic value – coastal tourists spend $1.5 billion each year. Statewide, millions of residents and international tourists will visit the Commonwealth’s beaches this summer, yet most of them will not know whether the water they’re enjoying is contaminated by disease-causing pathogens.

• Beach tourism is an important part of the Massachusetts economy.
• This revenue is heavily dependent upon a healthy, unpolluted environment.
• Currently, throughout Massachusetts we do not have accurate, consistent, uniform monitoring of public recreational waters or notification at contaminated beaches.
• Without uniform testing of beach waters, we cannot identify pollution sources or take positive action to eliminate the problem.

The Beaches Act requires uniform, state-wide criteria and procedures for testing, monitoring, and posting of coastal and inland public beaches. It will go into effect for the summer of 2001. The Act will protect public safety, improve environmental quality by pinpointing pollution "hot spots," and will be a first step in cleaning up our coasts.