Eye on Earth Water Watch
READ MORE ABOUT:
The Natural Resources Defense Council recently let us know that pollution at many beaches up and down the coasts is getting worse. According to their report, pollution caused the number of beach closings and advisories to hit their fourth-highest level in the 19-year history of the report. Closing and advisory days at ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches topped 20,000 for the fourth consecutive year in 2008, which means it's not necessarily safe for you to pack a towel and picnic lunch and head to the nearest waterfront.
So how can you know ahead of time where the cleanest swim spots are? Luckily, there are some great online tools to help.
Tools For Finding Safe, Clean Beaches
1. US - NRDC's Testing The Waters 2009 Map
The NRDC has a great online map with over 200 swim spots that show you the water quality of your local beaches. Using a color-coded star rating system, you can scan for the best spots to visit, and which spots need your help in getting cleaned up.
2. Europe - Eye on Earth - Water Watch
An initiative called Eye on Earth - Water Watch created by Microsoft and the European Environment Agency and powered by Bing will help you find out what water you can swim in without wondering if you're going to go home with more than just memories. The very user-friendly tool allows users to search by the EEA's water quality rating, or by user quality ratings, and then drill down for extra info such as historical assessments, or check out - and upload your own - images of the swim spots, or even view web cams set up by the local cities.
3. US - EPA's Beach Summary Notification
The EPA also has a map that we pointed out back in June. It isn't always the most up-to-date with some information being as much as a month old, and the search tool isn't very interactive, but for the most part it keeps recent information sent to the organization from the various states. It's a good tool for double checking your local beaches.
Help Keep Beaches Clean!
10 Ways to Protect Our Beaches
UNEP Web Tool Tracks Global Clean Up the World Activities
Great Ideas: Beach Cleanup
Pretty Up a Beach on International Coastal Cleanup Day
Help Stop the Tidal Wave of Trash
