It's time to start rummaging through the medicine cabinet for the sunscreen that hasn't expired, hunting through the closet for the one still-wearable pair of swim trunks, and scouring the Internet for the best beaches: not too crowded, not too far, and -- one hopes -- not too polluted. Knowing which beaches are safe isn't always easy. Current testing standards for beach water, dating back to 1986, rely on outdated monitoring tests that fail to alert beachgoers to immediate risks of exposure to waterborne pathogens; these germs can cause gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, earaches, skin rashes, and, on rare occasions, more severe illnesses like meningitis and hepatitis. Water tests take days to complete, leaving swimmers unprotected in the interim. Faster and more accurate monitoring tests exist, and the Environmental Protection Agency was due to revise public health standards for beaches back in 2005. It didn't, so NRDC filed suit. In March the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled that the EPA had failed to meet its congressionally mandated obligation to protect beachgoers. The court has yet to determine the appropriate remedy for EPA's violations of the law.