Several beaches along Texas' Gulf Coast have "potentially unsafe" water quality, with much of the contamination stemming from fecal matter and sewage system runoff, an environmental report released this week found.
Cole Park's beach in Corpus Christi and Sylvan Beach in La Porte were among some of the state's worst offenders where fecal matter contamination was deemed "unsafe" nearly 60 percent of the days they were tested in 2020.
Texas beaches as a whole were mostly worse than the national average, with 82 percent of the 220 beaches tested in the state being listed as "potentially unsafe" on at least one day last year, according to the Environment America report.
According to Texas public health officials, swimming in contaminated waters can cause serious illnesses, including gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease, or ear and eye infections. Cole Park's beach tested positive for fecal contamination on 62 separate days in 2020, the highest of any location in Texas.
John Rumpler, Environment America's senior director of the group's clean water campaign, told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday that symptoms of nausea and skin rashes can appear 24 hours after swimming in such contaminated ocean or fresh waters.
"Each year in the U.S., people contract an estimated 57 million cases of recreational waterborne illness from swimming in oceans, lakes, rivers and ponds," the report co-authors noted.
"To be blunt, sewage means poop," Rumpler said Monday.
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At least five beaches from Galveston to Corpus Christi had more potentially "unsafe" contamination days in 2020 than safe ones. About 10 beaches that were tested along the Gulf, and a few, including the Houston area's Trinity Bay, recorded between 45 and 60 percent "unsafe" days last year.
"There are signs here about lifeguards and rip currents, but there is nothing about poop in the water...this beach and several others didn't do very well," CBS DFW reporter Jacob Rascon said in a Monday report that highlighted the Environment America data.
Other states with beaches that showed an usually high concentration of fecal matter included Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio and Oregon.
Rumper said an improvement to water infrastructure is needed because developers and urban sprawl has "paved over so much of the landscape that when we have heavy rains, the water has nowhere to go. That heavy rain is picking up bacteria, grease, oil, toxic chemicals and sweeping it all off into the sewage system, causing an overflow."
Newsweek reached out to Texas state park and health officials for additional remarks about the beach contamination report Tuesday afternoon.
Several beaches along Texas' Gulf Coast have "potentially unsafe" water quality, with much of the contamination stemming from fecal matter and sewage system runoff, an environmental report released this week found. Above, people sunbathe on...Several beaches along Texas' Gulf Coast have "potentially unsafe" water quality, with much of the contamination stemming from fecal matter and sewage system runoff, an environmental report released this week found. Above, people sunbathe on the beach after it was reopened on May 1, 2020, in Galveston, Texas.
