(Photo of a sewage caused beach closure, from edgeplot at Flickr. Courtesy of Creative Commons license.)

Every summer, my family would move to my grandparents' house on the coast of Maine. From their second story porch, you could watch the tide roll in and out, feel the sea breeze, and hear the gulls circling above.

The edge of their yard was marked by the salt marsh. If you followed it down and to the left, you met the large estuary. From there, you could go right into the expanse of estuary, or left, where the creek, now a tidal river, cut the beach in half.

The whole area -- from the beach into the recesses of the marsh -- was a playground for me as a child.

Yet there was one thing that troubled our time in the water: the small sewage treatment plant on the edge of the marsh.

I hadn't thought about this in a long time. But after attending a press conference today for "Testing the Waters 2008," NRDC's annual survey of water quality at US beaches, I could think of little else. Consider some of the numbers.

• In 2007, the number of beach closings from pollution and advisories hit the second highest level in the 18 year history of the report.
• Meanwhile, the number of closings topped 20,000 for the third consecutive year.
• While the percent of beach monitoring samples exceeding national health standards was at 7%, the same percentage as 2006.

The numbers point out that our beaches remain contaminated -- and that we often swim unknowingly in pollution and, worse yet, human and animal waste.

Part of the problem here is the lack of information available to the public. In my state of Maine, for instance, the report shows that 100% of the sources of contamination are unknown.

Nationally, we do have a sense of what's causing these closings. Sixteen percent of the closing were caused by sewage spills and overflows. To repeat -- that's sewage spills and overflows.

This all raises a simple question for me: Aren't we as a country past the time of swimming in our own sewage?

Given how technically advanced we've become, why are we willing to place our families, and our children, in situations where they can become infected by the most basic elements of human waste?

It appears not. Even if you wanted to find up-to-date information on the water quality at your beach, you can't. Water quality is monitored at various intervals. This means that the information you'd be getting is days, if not a week, old. It'd be like planning yor day according to yesterday's forecast.

This leaves us, in 2008, with outdated, insufficient health standards. Consider that:

• Beach water quality standards are more than 20 years old. This means that even beaches that meet health standards could be unhealthy.
• And that, in its most recent report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the incidence of infections associated with recreational water use has steadily increased over the past several decades.

And so what do I tell my parents, grandparents and sisters when they want to go to the beach?

According to the data, the Old Orchard / Ocean Park Beach was monitored once a week, for a total of 28 times, and exceeded health standards 7% of the time. This is right on the national average, meaning that, on average, two days out of the month the water quality will exceed nationally define safe standards.

But this is meaningless when trying to figure out when to go to the beach. Instead, know that:

• Pollution from stormwater and sewage overflows occurs most predictably after a rain storm. And so, if it rains, try to wait a few hours, if not a day, to go back into the water.
• Other simple measures, like conserving water, using natural fertilizers, and maintaining septic systems, can help.
• If you're concerned about your beach, check out this interactive map that rates individual beaches.
• And if you're really concerned, I'd urge you to write to your congressman through NRDC's action site here.

As for me? I'm looking forward to returning to the beach early in September.

This should keep you from your favorite spot. But I hope it does help you know when, and where, to find the best patch of sand.