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presence of disease-causing pathogens and different concentrations of these indicator 

 organisms to determine whether or not swimming should be permitted. This means that 

 you can be swimming in waters in one state that are just as polluted as the waters at a 

 beach in another state, but the beach in one state is closed and the other is not. Thus 

 there is no consistent level of protection afforded beachgoers throughout the country. 



In 1986 EPA recommended that state health officials adopt a standard of 35 

 enterococcus per 100 ml of water. However, only a handful of states use enterococcus as 

 the indicator organism, despite a 1979 study showing that it has the best correlation with 

 human illness among 11 indicator organisms studied. Many states instead use fecal 

 coliform as the indicator organism; and several permit the use of total coliform, despite 

 EPA's and the National Technical Advisory Committee's dismissal of this indicator as 

 inaccurate. Even EPA's recommended standard is not all that protective of public 

 health: waters polluted to a level just meeting the standard would result in 19 out of a 

 10000 swimmers at that beach getting sick with gastroenteritis. 



Even when monitoring shows that the state public health standard is violated, many states 

 do not require that the beach be closed or the public be notified. New Jersey is the only 

 state that by law requires beaches to be closed to swimming when the state's health 

 standard is violated. In other states, such closings are discretionary. 



Because of the variability in standards, monitoring and closure practices among states, 

 beachgoers are not afforded a consistent level of protection. These inconsistencies also 



