What's in the Water Today?

Another week, another thing in the waters of Hampton Roads.  Reports came out over the weekend of foul-smelling black globs washing up on the Chesapeake Bay beaches of Virginia Beach.

Given the material's appearance and odor, some people assumed it was raw sewage.  However, Virginia Beach Environmental Health Manager Erin Sutton has told the Virginian-Pilot that they were likely sea sponges, similar to an infestation in Norfolk's Ocean View area a few years back.  Water quality tests from the affected beach were pending.

Earlier this summer in Newport News, the problem in the water wasn't sea sponges, but bacteria.  Hilton Beach was closed to swimming for two weeks because of elevated bacteria levels in the water.

Meanwhile, six year old Lucy Mangum was all smiles Tuesday during national TV interviews a week after being attacked by a shark. Her mother said Lucy was playing in less than two of water at Ocracoke Island when a shark bit the girl's right leg.  She's expected to make a full recovery and on Tuesday, Lucy said she had forgiven the shark.

The shark incident at Ocracoke was very similar to one a month earlier at Topsail Beach, which left a little girl hospitalized with serious but not life-threatening leg injuries.  It reminds me of the summer of 2001, when shark attacks killed two tourists, one in Virginia Beach and one on the Outer Banks, in a matter of days.

It was after the second attack in 2001 that the morning show at one of our sister radio stations in New York called for comment and asked me if I felt safe going to the beach.  I admitted at the time to being just a little more apprehensive, but I still said I would be going back to the beach.  And I say that today.  Here's why...

Shark attacks are rare.  The International Shark Attack File reports the U.S. averages about 40 attacks a year, less than the number of fatal lightning strikes each year.  The drive to the beach is potentially more dangerous than actually being there.

Also, our beaches are generally clean.  The Natural Resources Defense Council reports that while pollution runoff is a growing concern at all beaches, the Virginia Beach beaches are tested regularly for water quality and have met federal clean water standards for the last three years. 

Links:
Virginian-Pilot article about the sea sponges
Article about Lucy Mangum
Beach health report from the Natural Resources Defense Council
The International Shark Attack File