For those of you that like a good swim in the ocean, come a few years from now, you’ll have a far better idea of what else is in that water with you, and how safe it is.  Due to a court settlement, the Environmental Protection Agency will “develop criteria by 2012 to protect the public against a wider range of potential health hazards from ocean swimming than provided by existing standards.”

According to The Bellingham Herald, as of right now the only standard EPA uses to gauge the safety of ocean water is the possibility of people developing gastrointestinal illnesses.  However, over the next few years, the EPA will expand their benchmarks of ocean safety considerably.

The settlement requires EPA to base its criteria on more illnesses, including hepatitis, skin rashes, ear infections and pink eye. EPA will also have to deliver results of sea-water tests the same day they’re done, so the public can have more timely and accurate information.

Wait.  Hold on a minute.  So right now thinks like skin rashes and hepatitis aren’t part of what we consider unsafe?  Also, the article states that criteria have not been updated by the EPA since 1986.  Yeah, I think that maybe this is a good court settlement.  The EPA says it is going to end up costing about $14 million to update the standards, but a spokesman says, “Sound science and partnerships are key to protecting public health at America’s beaches.  This agreement should help reduce litigation and increase collaboration.”  So they’re hypothetically on board.

An important caveat to this all is that though it is up to the EPA to find disseminate the information regarding the safety of any given ocean, “states and local jurisdictions make their own decisions about how and when to post warnings and close beaches.”  So, if you’re near the water (lucky people you), you might want to check on how these warnings are posted.

takepart and visit Greenpeace’s ocean page to learn how to keep the oceans clean, so you don’t have to worry about the EPA judging for you.