| DC
Preservation League |
| Annual
list of endangered DC places released |
agencies
Some
call them eyesores, others call them historic
landmarks -- but the D.C. Preservation League
calls them the nine Most Endangered Places.
The 10th annual list hopes to draw attention
to the District's historical, cultural and
architecturally significant places that may
be threatened with demolition
or neglect.
Number one on the list? The west campus of St.
Elizabeths Hospital -- currently being considered
for a $4.5 million office complex.
"Basically, look at it as chopping off the two sides of the Capitol and
putting two very large office towers next to it," says Rebecca Miller, executive
director of the Preservation League.
There are also smaller places on the list, including
three old schools: Slater, Langston and Armstrong.
Here is the complete list in order:
• St. Elizabeths Hospital - west campus
• The Armed Forces Retirement Home
• The McMillan Reservoir
• Walter Reed
• The Martin Luther King Library
• Slater Elementary School
• Langston Elementary School
• Armstrong High School
•
The D.C. World War I Memorial
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| Environmental
group says: |
| Beachgoers
at risk from polluted water |
agencies
An
environmental group said on Wednesday it would
sue the U.S. government for failing to protect
millions of beachgoers from contaminated water.
The Natural Resources Defense Council said the
Environmental Protection Agency has moved too
slowly to update beach water quality standards
and protect people from diarrhea, skin rashes,
earaches, pink eye, respiratory infections and
other ailments from polluted water.
The agency missed an October 2005 deadline mandated
by Congress to revise outdated water quality
standards and says it will not be able to finish
the job until 2011, the group said.
"
A day at the beach is not worth a night at the
hospital," Nancy Stoner, the director of
group's clean water project, said during a telephone
news conference five days before Memorial Day,
the traditional beginning of the U.S. beach season.
The Natural Resources Defense Council said
it had served the EPA with a notice of its
intent
to sue in 60 days.
The EPA issued a statement that did not address
the NRDC's claim that it missed Congressional
deadlines, but said the agency had developed
a "strong beach program" and distributed
more than $52 million to states for monitoring
programs.
The EPA said the number of beaches monitored
has more than tripled since 1997.
The lawsuit will seek to force the EPA to accelerate
its timetable for setting new water quality
standards and strengthen those standards to "fully
protect the public" from bacteria, viruses
and parasites in beach water, the group said.
The EPA also needs to set standards for facilities
that discharge contaminated water, such as
sewage treatment plants, it said. In addition,
the EPA
should establish testing methods that allow
public health officials to quickly decide whether
to
close beaches or advise people against swimming.
"
A new beach test is undergoing development to
provide information about water quality in two
hours or less," the EPA said in its response.
Current outdated standards may not protect
beachgoers from illnesses such as hepatitis
and encephalitis
as well as a host of common stomach ailments
and infections, the NRDC said.
The EPA needs to put breakthrough technologies
in microbiology -- the kind seen on TV crime
shows -- to work detecting pollutants at
beaches, said Dr. Joan Rose, director of
Michigan State
University's Center for Water Sciences.
"
We are essentially using about 100-year-old methods,
particularly when we monitor discharges that
end up at our beaches," Rose said.
The elderly, children and people with weakened
immune systems are particularly at risk
from waterborne contaminants.
The NRDC said experts estimate some 7
million Americans are made ill by contaminated
water, each year.
Studies have estimated anywhere from
2 percent to 14 percent of people who
go
into the water
at beaches become infected and serious
outbreaks can send people to hospitals
for treatment,
Rose said.
The council advised beachgoers to find
out whether their beaches are regularly
monitored
for water
quality and avoid those with visible
discharge pipes. Urban beaches can
be a particular
problem after heavy rain because
rainwater can wash
pollutants into oceans, lakes and
rivers, the group said.
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