TEXAS – A new study by Environment Texas found that almost every Texas beach tested positive for unsafe levels of fecal bacteria in 2022.
Out of 61 beaches tested, 55 had unsafe levels on at least one testing day. At least eight of the beaches had unsafe levels of fecal matter on more than 25 percent of the days tested.
Three beaches that were found the most unsafe are Texas City Dike, 25th St. near Pleasure Pier, and Clara St. near Crystal Beach—all in Galveston County. The fourth most unsafe was Sylvan Beach Park in La Porte in Harris County.
These statistics are not unlike how the rest of the country has fared. More than one-half of U.S. beaches had an unsafe level of contamination in 2022. This study also said about one out of every nine beaches tested positive for unsafe levels on at least 25 percent of testing days nationwide. Fifty-seven million cases a year are documented of people getting sick from swimming in contaminated water.
Most of this pollution comes from stormwater runoff and overflowing sewage. Congress hopes to reduce the threat of beach pollution after passing a bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021 that provides a total of $27.4 billion to the EPA Clean Water State Revolving Fund over a five-year period.