EPA to toughen standards for safety of ocean water

WASHINGTON - Beachgoers will be told more about whether it's safe to go in the water under a court settlement between environmentalists and the EPA.

The settlement requires the Environmental Protection Agency to develop criteria by 2012 to protect the public against a wider range of potential health hazards from ocean swimming than provided by existing standards.

Currently EPA criteria for the safety of ocean water is based on the likelihood of contracting gastrointestinal ailments.

The settlement requires the EPA to base its criteria on more illnesses, including hepatitis, skin rashes, ear infections, and pink eye. The EPA will also have to deliver results of sea-water tests the same day they're done.

"The new studies will have to look at the whole range of how people get sick, which will lead to stricter and more protective criteria," Aaron Colangelo, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview yesterday. "People can be more confident when they take their family to the beach that when they say it's safe, it's safe."

Bruce Berman of the Boston-based advocacy group Save the Harbor-Save the Bay praised the ruling, saying it would help protect the public's $4 billion investment in the cleanup of Boston Harbor. "Over the past few years, we've become increasingly concerned with the lack of justification for the [current] standard," he said. "It's time to take a hard look at the science."