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Pollution on Maine beaches has been higher than ever this year. Many Maine beaches have elevated bacteria levels from untreated sewage and farm runoff.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sperm-whale-die-swallowing-64-pounds-plastic-debris/
Beaches that have been unsafe to swim in are listed here:
-Colony Beach in Kennebunkport
-Goose Rocks beach in Kennebunkport
-Goochs' beach in Kennebunk
-Mothers Beach in Kennebunk
-Laite Beach in Camden
-Willard beach in Portland
-Cape Neddick beach in York
The most common illnesses from these water conditions are gastrointestinal, respiratory, or skin related. You can get nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramps, chills, fevers, sinus infections, skin rashes, and infections of eyes, ears, nose and throat. Some bacteria that these illnesses are rooted from are Cryptospordium, Giardia, Shigella, and E. coli.
Contaminated water can pick up fecal matter, which carries harmful bacteria, parasites, and viruses. From Maine.gov, "Some other sources of bacteria are:
Improperly disposed of diapers
Children not properly cleaned after using the bathroom
Swimmers with diarrhea
A vomiting or fecal accident in the water
Waste from wildlife, domestic animals, and pets
Malfunctioning subsurface wastewater disposal (septic) or sanitary collection (sewage treatment plant) systems
Boats discharging sewage into the water
Contaminated stormwater run off"
A lot of sources say the rainfall has highly impacted the contamination of the water this year.
Laite beach in Camden has the highest contamination of any Maine beach today. This is because of the heavy rainfall and all of the tourists. Many people have visited this beach, making it polluted and contaminated by animal feces or from the bacteria off of the animals' fur. As said by Knox.villagesoup.com, "The amount of enterococci bacteria recorded at the beach on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 was 2,755. This is more than 26 times the level of 104 that is considered the safe limit for the bacteria that can sicken swimmers, according to the DEP."
Said by Google.com "Nationwide in 2022, 1,761 out of 3,192 tested beaches (55%) experienced at least one day on which fecal contamination reached potentially unsafe levels, and 363 beaches-about one out of every nine tested- had potentially unsafe levels of contamination on at least 25% of the days on which testing took place.
Red tide has been occurring in the coastline between Old Orchard Beach and Harpswell, ME, because of the pollution levels this year.
Lately, the Maine Bureau of Health has been warning people to limit eating fish because of the mercury contamination. From NRCM.org, "It also tells people to further limit eating fish from many of Maine's rivers, eat no lobster tomalley, and severely limit consumption of bluefish and striped bass, two of Maine's most popular saltwater sport fish. This is due to a combination of mercury, PCB, and dioxin contamination.
PFAS, or Per- and polyfluorkyl substances, are also know as forever chemicals, never break down in the environment, and severely pollute the ocean.
As said by NRCM.org, "The Androscoggin River was once so polluted that it would lose all of the oxygen in its waters. Fish became unable to breathe and died by the millions. Sometimes industrial facilities discharged dyes with their wastewater that turned the water different colors." This means some could have run into the ocean, polluting it as well.
usgs.org
Water levels are much higher because of global warming. This affects many things including the amount of pollution.
DID YOU KNOW?
Scientists estimate that 80% of all of the litter in the oceans is made up of plastic.
https://hippicks.co.uk/uncategorised/the-problem-of-water-pollution/
As said by the Maine Conservation Alliance, "Plastic debris of any size can break into tiny fragments and researchers have found these micro plastics in every location they have tested off the coast of Maine. Larger marine debris litters our coast and ocean floors causing significant harm, even death, to marine animals and birds."
Millions of gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater are dumped into the ocean every year. Some combined sewer overflow systems that cannot handle heavy rainstorms.
As said by Simsbury-ct.gov,
DO NOT pour fat from cooking or any other type of fat oil, or grease down the sink. Keep a fat jar under the sink to collect the fat and discard in the solid waste when full.
DO NOT dispose of household chemicals or cleaning agents down the sink or toilet.
DO NOT flush pills, liquid, powder medications, or drugs down the toilet.
Avoid using the toilet as a watebasket. Most tissues, wrappers, dust cloths, and other paper goods should be properly discarded in a wastebasket The fiber reinforced cleaning products that have become popular should never be discarded in the toilet.
Avoid using a garbage disposal. Keep solid wastes solid. Make a compost pile for vegetable sources.
Install a water efficient toilet. In the meantime, put a brick or 1/2 gallon container in the standard toilet tank to reduce water per flush.
Run the dishwasher or clothes washer only when you have a full load. This conserves electricity and water
Use the minimum amount of detergent and/or bleach when you are washing clothes or dishes . Use only phosphate free soaps and detergents.
Minimize the use of pesticides herbicides, and fertilizers. DO NOT dispose of these chemicals, motor oil, or other automotive fluids into the sanitary sewer or storm sewer systems. Both of them end at the river.
If your home sump pump or cellar drain, make certain it does not drain into the sanitary sewer system.
As said by Google.com, "As an individual, reusing, reducing, and recycling whenever possible will advance a long way in overcoming the effects of water pollution."
All forms of pollution eventually make their way to water.
Pollution ruins our health, our fish and wildlife, and our recreation economy. As said by ProtectMaine.org, "Hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated storm water and sewage are discharged into Maine waters every year due to outdated municipal "combined sewer overflow" systems that cannot handle heavy rain storms. Water quality is further degraded by failed septic systems, as well as well as excess fertilizer, pesticides, animal waste, detergents, and industrial runoff that wash into our ocean. ... runoff can lead to algal blooms that harm our health, kill shellfish, and other animals, and lower the value of waterfront properties. Pesticide use by homeowners and lawn/tree care companies has increased by 700% over the past two decades.
According to mainebeacon.com, "In 2020, McCain Foods USA's plant in Easton released the most chemicals into waterways thar year while the Sappi paper mill in Skowhegan released chemicals with the highest degree of toxicity. In total, a little over 2.5 million pounds of chemicals were released into Maine's waterways in 2020, according to the TRI data. That was by far the most in New England, with Vermont putting out the second most (120,767 pounds)."
The GAC Chemical Corporation in Searsport released chemicals into the Maine coastal areas.
Resources
Google.AI
https://oursharedseas.com/threats/threats-pollution/
https://www.ecowatch.com/us-lakes-and-rivers-polluted.html
https://www.nrcm.org/programs/sustainability/plastic-pollution/
https://www.maine.gov/dep/water/beaches/beach-status.html
https://www.countryinnmaine.com/about/
Help Keep our waters clean.
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