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Many popular public swimming beaches in Wisconsin have been closed over the past two summers. due to increased monitoring for bacteria.
The recent closures were triggered in the summer of 2002, when a suspicious outbreak of intestinal problems affected a large number of swimmers who were camped at Peninsula State Park, in Door County. Samples were taken.and high coliform bacteria counts were noted.
Health departments were urged (or shamed) into taking samples at more Wisconsin beaches and found problemsat dozens of sites. This set off a wave of publicity. At the same time, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced the launch of a new monitoring program for the 170 public beaches which line Wisconsin's coasts on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, funded by a federal grant. Howerver, as DNR pointed out, the monitoring plan had been under development since 2001 to meet federal requirements for states to improve monitoring and public notification at their coastal beaches.
"Unfortunately, the federal law and the available federal funding don't get at identifying and reducing sources or contamination." said Toni Glymph, the DNR toxicologist leading the Beach Workgroup of state and local health and environmental officials. "We realize those are criticai needs, but this testing and notification plan is a start. People need to be aware of risks and make informed choices."
Because funding was short ,the DNR categorized beaches as high, medium, or low priority, to determine how frequently each beach will be monitoree. High priority beaches, for instance, may be monitored five times a week, compared to once a week for low priority beaches. Coastal communities aren't required to adopt themonitoring and notification guidelines in the plan,but the DNR expected more than $200,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist communities wanting to implement the plan in summer 2003.
Currently, DNR staff are responsible for monitoring beaches at state properties, and tribal and local health departments are responsible for other public beaches within their borders. Because testing is not mandatory and local communities are not required to follow state guidelines for monitoring beaches,Wisconsin suffers from a serious inconsistency in how frequently beaches are sampled, how people are notified or possible unsafe swimming conditions,and in reporting of beach closures.
