These IL Beaches May Not Be As Safe For Swimming As You Think

ILLINOIS — Plenty of summer days remain for Illinois residents to enjoy the beach, but a new report finds that the state’s beaches may not always be safe for swimming, and the filthy waters can lead to illness.

Looking at bacteria sampling data collected by authorities in 29 states and Puerto Rico, the report authors found that more than half the beaches tested were potentially unsafe for swimming on at least one day in 2018. The analysis also showed that 610 beaches were potentially unsafe on 25 percent of the days they were tested for bacteria.

Beaches cited in the report posed a swimming risk if the bacteria samples exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Beach Action Value,” which is a stricter threshold than recommended by the agency for recreational water. The “Beach Action Value” used in the report corresponds to an estimated 32 illnesses for every 1,000 swimmers. One of the report’s recommendations to make beaches safer is to use the stricter EPA standard for making decisions on advisories and closures.

Unsafe Bacteria Levels Close 4 Evanston Beaches To Swimming

In Illinois, all of the 19 beaches tested were unsafe for swimming for at least one day in 2018.

In 2018, 19 beaches in Illinois, all in Cook County, were sampled for bacteria, and all of those beaches were potentially not safe for swimmers on at least one day last year. The top 10 beaches by the most number of days that were potentially unsafe for swimming are:

• South Shore Beach, 93 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 98 days
• 63rd Street Beach, 91 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 95 days
• Foster Avenue Beach, 90 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 96 days
• Calumet South Beach, 89 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 96 days
• Rogers Avenue Beach, 89 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 95 days
• Howard Street Beach, 89 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 96 days
• Montrose Beach, 88 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 95 days
• Hartigan Beach, 88 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 96 days
• Marion Mahoney Griffin Beach, 82 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 96 days
• Leone Beach, 81 potentially unsafe days, sampled on 96 days

Across Cook County, the average percentage of sampling days with potentially unsafe water was 88 percent.

The report notes that beaches cannot be compared to each other since the testing takes place on different schedules and at different frequencies.

Waters polluted with sewage or fecal matter can make swimmers sick, and millions of waterborne illnesses are reported each year in the United States, the report says. The report by the Environment America Research & Policy Center looked at data for 2018 collected by local and federal officials from 4,523 beaches.

To make waters safer for swimming, the report says pollution from urban runoff, sewage and manure needs to be curtailed.

Read the full report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center.