Improve statewide water-quality monitoring

Almost as soon as a swimming advisory was posted earlier this month at Lewes Beach, posts on social media began linking the problem to Rehoboth Beach's new ocean outfall, which had gone online only days earlier. Days later, state water-quality experts said it is highly unlikely the outfall, which extends a mile into the ocean, could be the source of the problem.

They say the most likely culprit is not human wastewater but rather wildlife migrating along Delaware Bay – the horseshoe crabs coming to spawn and the migrating birds that feast on their eggs, coupled with weeks of rainy weather that increased runoff into our waterways, bays and ocean.

The Cape Gazette has already called for further study to discover the source of the water advisory at Lewes Beach and earlier ones in Rehoboth. But these advisories, along with three advisories at Slaughter Beach since May, are a signal. Coupled with increased public concern that discharge from local chicken plants is continuing years of contamination of private wells, it's clear the public is demanding better, more complete information on the water we swim in, fish in and drink.

The 100-foot buffers recently proposed before Sussex County Council are a good starting point toward protecting our waterways. This initiative should be accompanied by more urgent efforts at the state level to improve water testing and the research necessary to determine the source of water contamination.

Instead of waiting for municipalities to conduct expensive testing following each advisory, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control must develop the means to provide more complete information to municipal governments.

It should not be left to small towns to track down specific causes, when DNREC experts already suspect they know the cause of the beach advisories. Those experts should back up their suspicions and provide answers that will allow municipal governments to work together and fix the problems.

The time for handing off problems to counties and small towns is over. DNREC officials must step up and demand the resources they need to protect our waterways and beaches, and the water we drink.