Maine's Department of Environmental Protection is pushing back against a report that raises questions about water quality at beaches around the United States. The report from the national advocacy group “Environment America” notes that of 85 sites sampled in Maine, nearly half were unsafe for swimming on at least one day last summer.
The information contained in the report comes from data collected by the state’s Healthy Beaches program. Coordinator Meagan Sims acknowledges that there are water quality issues in some areas, particularly because of storm water runoff that carries contaminants down to beaches.
“In Maine, we specifically place our monitors in locations in areas where we expect there to be issues, if there are any,” says Sims. “Those are near fresh water inputs, river mouths, in streams, storm drains because we want to be the most protective health.”
But Sims says 93 percent of all beach water samples collected last year were below Maine's federally approved threshold for safe recreation. Sims says exceedances are automatically transferred to the Maine Healthy Beaches website.
Updated 8:51 a.m. July 27, 2019
