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A Day at the Beach Ain’t What It Used to Be

Larrylambert
2 min readJul 10, 2023

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You might need more than sunscreen.

Photo by Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash

In the past, I’ve written about pollution on the beach. It’s not just garbage being dumped on the beach, there are other hazards. Like poop. That’s right, animal poop and human poop are hazards at many beaches in the US. Forget red tide, worry about brown tide.

A report from an organization called, “Environment America” said that 55% of America’s beaches that they tested in America had unsafe levels of poop. In fairness, a beach was included if it reached unsafe levels of poop for one day. So, there might not be an excess of poop at a given beach all the time. Which means, when going to the beach you have to ask yourself, “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do you?

Where does that poop come from?

Most of the waste affecting the beaches come from sewers, and private septic tanks. That, coupled with animal waste from industrial farms is a real issue.

Wow, if you’re swimming at a beach, don’t be surprised to find that’s not a dolphin you are swimming with. Also, if you come out of the water darker than when you went in, that might not be a tan.

Another infrastructure issue the US faces is an inadequate waste disposal system. Since 2021 Congress has allotted $21 billion to deal with sewage and…

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Larrylambert
Larrylambert

Written by Larrylambert

You probably don't know my name, but have likely seen my work. I've written for numerous syndicated cartoon strips and my gags have appeared in national pubs.

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