Environmental Issues: Oceans

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All Documents in Oceans Tagged Water Pollution

Keep Our Beaches Clean
Prevent the Beachwater Pollution That Makes Swimmers Sick

Fact Sheet
Beach vacations are an annual summer event for many families. But beachgoers at polluted beaches around the country may bring back an unwanted souvenir from their trip: ear infections, stomach flu, skin rashes, and other illnesses that are caused by polluted beachwater. To help keep our beaches clean, NRDC supports improved beachwater testing to detect the pathogens that can cause health problems in swimmers. Bills now pending in Congress would provide funding for much-needed beach cleanup efforts and help ensure that the public is notified promptly when beaches are unsafe for swimming. These bills will help make sure that our beaches are safe for swimming every day.
Get document in pdf.
Saving Jamaica Bay
Fact Sheet
New York City's Jamaica Bay is plagued by an array of harms ranging from overdevelopment on its borders to water pollution to invasive plant and animal species. A unified effort on the part of government and residents is needed to restore this natural gem and to save one of the city's last wild places. Get document in pdf.
Florida’s Coastal and Ocean Future
A Blueprint for Economic and Environmental Leadership

Issue Paper
With tourism, fishing, and recreational sport bringing billions of dollars into Florida each year, the coast is Florida's economic engine. This issue paper provides a blueprint for how local leaders and decision makers can -- and must -- take action to protect Florida’s marine and coastal ecosystems.

Documents Tagged Water Pollution in All Sections

Pollution from Giant Livestock Farms Threatens Public Health
Waste lagoons and manure sprayfields -- two widespread and environmentally hazardous technologies -- are poorly regulated.

News
Factory farms -- giant livestock farms that house thousands of cows, chickens or pigs -- produce staggering amounts of animal wastes. These wastes are often stored and used in ways that expose people to dangerous bacteria, toxic gases and other hazardous substances, and punish the natural environment.
Seizing a Watershed Opportunity in the Chesapeake Bay
NRDC’s Plan to Clean Up the Chesapeake Bay and Its Beaches

Issue Paper
As the largest estuary in the United States, and the third largest in the world, the Chesapeake Bay is home to a wide range of wildlife and an important resource for millions of people who live, play, and work in the region. On the heels of reports from seven federal agencies commissioned by President Obama to clean up this national treasure, this paper delves into the sources of pollution that undermine the health of the Bay and provides recommendations for mitigating them.
In Fracking's Wake
New Rules are Needed to Protect Our Health and Environment from Contaminated Wastewater

Issue Paper
Natural gas development has exploded, fueled by advances in an extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Unfortunately, federal and state safeguards to protect people and the environment from the hazards of fracking have not kept pace.
Safe Water in Peril
Addressing the Effects of Global Warming on Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

Fact Sheet
Nearly eight hundred million people do not have access to safe drinking water, and two and a half billion people live without adequate sanitation. These dire conditions already pose the greatest worldwide threat to environmental health, and global warming is making matters worse. More frequent, severe droughts and floods are increasing water shortages and causing widespread contamination and sanitation challenges. To avoid an outright global water catastrophe, local, national, and international leaders must urgently pursue a two-part strategy of reducing pollution to minimize further climate change and prepare vulnerable communities to deal with the changes in climate already in progress. Get document in pdf.

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Oceans on Switchboard

NRDC experts write about the growing risks to the health of our oceans on the NRDC blog.


Recent Oceans Posts

A Brighter Blue Budget
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posted by Ali Chase, 4/24/13
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