The climate action group Environment America has issued a report showing that more than half of the beaches it tested last year had at least one day in which fecal contamination reached “potentially unsafe levels.”
The pollution comes from sewage overflows, runoff from livestock operations, and stormwater runoff from urban areas. More than 10% of the beaches were unsafe at least 25% of the time, and in Louisiana and Pennsylvania, 100% of beaches tested failed sanitation tests at least once.
Congress dedicated $11.7 billion for sewage and stormwater projects in 2021, but the Environmental Protection Agency estimates it would need about $270 billion to properly address wastewater infrastructure issues nationwide. That larger amount of money represents about 30% of annual military spending.
