Throughout the summer Great Lakes Echo will feature an occasional series of public service announcements produced by Michigan’s Ottawa County Health Department to promote clean beaches.
The department has created rack cards on issues that affect the health of beaches to distribute in schools and visitors’ centers throughout the state.
This one stresses the importance of hand washing after you swim and before you eat. Washing your hands will help prevent the spread of bacteria, such as E. coli, which can cause recreational water illness.
For example, Echo reported last year that staphylococcus aureus, or staph, was an emerging beach threat likely caused by swimmers since staph usually lives on skin.
Washing your hands before handling food can prevent infection, said Kristina Wieghmink, spokesperson for the Ottawa County Health Department. “It all comes down to simple hygiene,” she said.
This card also discourages littering.
Though it may seem like an obvious message, the ads are meant to be preventative measures, said Wieghmink.
“We certainly hope people will put their trash in the garbage rather than on the beach,” she said.
To a get a sense of the prevalence of the beach pollution, look at data from Alliance for the Great Lakes’ Adopt A Beach Program.
Echo reported last year that volunteers at a Grand Haven, Mich. beach cleanup collected 43 pounds of trash and 2,290 cigarette butts.
Follow this link to other clean beach notices.
The campaign is funded through grants from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.