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Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California

The United States (U.S.) Clean Water Act triggered over $1 trillion in investments in water pollution abatement. However, treated sewage discharge and untreated runoff water that are contaminated by fecal matter are discharged into California beach waters daily. Warnings are posted to thwart the pub...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Li, Jingjing, Zhang, Xiaohan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6604031/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31167463
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111987
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author Li, Jingjing
Zhang, Xiaohan
author_facet Li, Jingjing
Zhang, Xiaohan
author_sort Li, Jingjing
collection PubMed
description The United States (U.S.) Clean Water Act triggered over $1 trillion in investments in water pollution abatement. However, treated sewage discharge and untreated runoff water that are contaminated by fecal matter are discharged into California beach waters daily. Warnings are posted to thwart the public from contacting polluted coastal water, according to the California Code of Regulations (CCR). This paper evaluated the current policy by empirically examining the productivity loss, in the form of sick leave, which is caused by fecal-contaminated water along the California coast under the CCR. The findings of this study showed that Californians suffer productivity losses in the amount of 3.56 million sick leave days per year due to recreational beach water pollution. This paper also empirically examined the pollution-to-sickness graph that Cabelli’s classic study theoretically proposed. The results of the research assure that the existing water quality thresholds are still reasonably safe and appropriate, despite the thresholds being based on studies from the 1950s. The weakness of the CCR lies in its poor enforcement or compliance. Better compliance, in terms of posting pollution advisories and increasing public awareness regarding beach pollution effects on health, would lead to a significant decrease in sick leaves and a corresponding increase in productivity. Therefore, this study advocates for stronger enforcement by displaying pollution advisories and better public awareness of beach pollution effects on health.
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spelling pubmed-66040312019-07-19 Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California Li, Jingjing Zhang, Xiaohan Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The United States (U.S.) Clean Water Act triggered over $1 trillion in investments in water pollution abatement. However, treated sewage discharge and untreated runoff water that are contaminated by fecal matter are discharged into California beach waters daily. Warnings are posted to thwart the public from contacting polluted coastal water, according to the California Code of Regulations (CCR). This paper evaluated the current policy by empirically examining the productivity loss, in the form of sick leave, which is caused by fecal-contaminated water along the California coast under the CCR. The findings of this study showed that Californians suffer productivity losses in the amount of 3.56 million sick leave days per year due to recreational beach water pollution. This paper also empirically examined the pollution-to-sickness graph that Cabelli’s classic study theoretically proposed. The results of the research assure that the existing water quality thresholds are still reasonably safe and appropriate, despite the thresholds being based on studies from the 1950s. The weakness of the CCR lies in its poor enforcement or compliance. Better compliance, in terms of posting pollution advisories and increasing public awareness regarding beach pollution effects on health, would lead to a significant decrease in sick leaves and a corresponding increase in productivity. Therefore, this study advocates for stronger enforcement by displaying pollution advisories and better public awareness of beach pollution effects on health. MDPI 2019-06-04 2019-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6604031/ /pubmed/31167463 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111987 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Li, Jingjing
Zhang, Xiaohan
Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California
title Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California
title_full Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California
title_fullStr Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California
title_full_unstemmed Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California
title_short Beach Pollution Effects on Health and Productivity in California
title_sort beach pollution effects on health and productivity in california
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6604031/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31167463
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111987
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