Texas water quality monitoring praised

A water quality monitoring programme used on the beaches of Texas has been lauded by environmentalists.

Members of not-for-profit environmental action group the Natural Resources Defense Council praised the Texas General Land Office for "conducting an unparalleled outreach campaign about its beach water quality monitoring programme", which included launching a website to give Texans up-to-date information on the quality of water at specific beaches.

Jim Suydam, a spokesman for land commissioner Jerry Patterson, said the organisation's water quality testing revealed bacteria and pollution caused by humans, most of which was due to rainwater runoff.

"Anytime it rains you've got stuff washing off from city streets and city sewers and wastewater systems and that goes right out to the waters, the bays, the estuaries," he said.

In related news, up to 25,000 gallons of wastewater recently spilled into the Mettawee river in New York, according to the state department of environmental conservation.

Written by Lauren Steadman