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U.S. alone, nearly 2.8 million pounds of trash were gathered from 

 4,600 miles of beach during this three-hour event. 



But the Cleanup is not just a one-time event for the sole purpose 

 of picking up trash. Volunteers also record on a data card the types 

 and amounts of trash that they are gathering. The data collection 

 aspect of the cleanup enables us to better understand the sources 

 and the pathways of marine debris. 



In 1991, among the 5,200,741 debris items catalogued on data 

 cards there were some items that were indicative of inadequate 

 sewage treatment and disposal practices, practices which have a 

 direct bearing on the safety of our recreational beaches. Although 

 condoms and plastic tampon applicators, traceable to inadequately 

 treated sewage, only accounted for 1 percent of total trash items 

 collected, the following States had unusually high rates of sewage 

 associated waste: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode 

 Island and New York. All these States logged in with numbers at 

 least three times the national average. 



It is interesting to note that the sewage-associated wastes found 

 during the cleanup were more prevalent in areas with coastal com- 

 bined sewer systems, leading us to surmise that these wastes found 

 their way to our beaches in discharges of combined sewer overflows 

 or CSOs. 



In the medical waste category, cleanup volunteers found sy- 

 ringes, hospital ID bracelets and transfusion bottles. In 1991 volun- 

 teers reported finding 8,280 plastic syringes on U.S. beaches in just 

 three hours. The number of syringes reported from the three States 

 of particular interest to this Committee were 2,111 in California, 

 1,105 in Texas, and 160 in New Jersey. 



Debris on our beaches is more than just an eyesore. It not only 

 poses a threat to wildlife who may become entangled in it or ingest 

 it. The type of debris that I have just described — tampon applica- 

 tors, condoms and syringes — also poses a threat to tourism. This 

 was fully realized after debris, particularly medical waste, washed 

 up in massive quantities on northeast beaches during the summers 

 of 1987 and 1988. According to studies following these events, the 

 washups caused an estimated loss of over $1 billion to New Jersey 

 because of decreased tourism. 



We have found from the data collected during cleanups that 

 there is a positive correlation between a high percentage of sewage 

 associated waste and relatively high percentages of medical waste, 

 supporting the assumption that some medical wastes enter the 

 marine environment through sewer and storm drain systems. 



To address the sewer and storm drain problem, the Center for 

 Marine Conservation is conducting a "Million Points of Blight" 

 campaign. The goal of this campaign is to stencil one million storm 

 drains in the U.S. with a message to educate the public about the 

 connections between storm drains and our national waterways. To 

 date, more than 80 State and local agencies and community orga- 

 nizers are part of the "Million Points of Blight" network and have 

 stencilled over 94,800 storm drains. 



Any effort to focus attention on recreational beach safety, par- 

 ticularly attempts to reduce floatables and the related sewage-asso- 

 ciated wastes they represent must necessarily look at the problem 

 of CSOs. We urge the Committee to link its efforts on beach safety 



