Posts Tagged ‘Ocean’
Pollution Threatens British Beaches
Friday, November 21st, 2008
British beaches were once something to be proud of but according to Surfers Against Sewage (S.A.S) almost 1/3rd (32.3%) of English and Welsh designated bathing beaches failed to meet UK guideline standards for water quality during the 2008 bathing season.
An article on the S.A.S website states that out of 495 designated bathing waters in England and Wales 160 could not meet the tougher of two water quality standards set by the European Union to protect public health and the environment from faecal pollution at bathing waters.
You would think that these guidelines had just come in to existence but they have actually been set for 32 years under the 1976 EU Bathing Water Directive. It is understood that changes in UK weather conditions are causing the problem, making it increasingly difficult to meet the standards set out by the directive.
In the last 2 years Britain has seen extremely wet summers, which has highlighted how vulnerable our nation’s beaches are to the adverse effects to water quality after periods of heavy rainfall. The government have put massive investment into the nation’s sewerage infrastructure but it has had little effect on curving the problem of water pollution.
The S.A.S point out in their article that a solution which reduces the impact of heavy rainfall on future water quality results, should not just fall on the shoulders of the nations water companies but it will require co-operation from a large number of authorities.
Tags: Beach, European Union, Ocean, pollution, Sea
Posted in Environment | No Comments »
Rainforests of the Deep
Friday, October 10th, 2008
Coral reefs are the largest living structures on earth, and provide the backbone for some of the planet’s most spectacular ecosystems. Like underwater forests, coral reefs provide a nurturing habitat for an astonishing variety of marine life. In fact, despite only covering a tiny portion of the ocean’s surface area, coral reefs are home to a quarter of all the species that live in the ocean!
For this reason, coral reefs are sometimes referred to as the rainforests of the sea.
In addition to sheltering so many of the ocean’s creatures, coral reefs are also visually stunning. Filled with colour, shape and texture, they resemble nothing so much as an underwater fairyland. Naturally, the backbone of a coral reef is coral.
A coral reef is composed of “living stone,” made up of thousands upon of thousands of individual coral organisms, called polyps. Coral polyps are small, soft-bodied creatures that create limestone skeletons for themselves using calcium and carbon dioxide from ocean water. (more…)
Tags: coral, Ocean, rainforest
Posted in Environment | 1 Comment »