At Your Own Risk

There’s a downside to the Maine Healthy Beaches program: it’s strictly voluntary. Think of it this way: if the state’s clam testing program were set up the same way, we’d get safe clams from towns where the flats had been tested and declared to be safe; we might get no information at all — but plenty of clams — from towns that had opted out of the program. When folks began getting sick, presumably, the authorities might step in.

But when it comes to bacteria and beaches, a voluntary program is all we’ve had since 2002. And some towns have opted out, meaning their beaches aren’t tested. Forty-six beaches get tested (at the risk, as in Kennebunkport, of being declared unhealthy); others take the don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach. As Maine’s beach program coordinator says, “some towns decide it’s better not to know.”

A sign we’ve all seen at beaches says it better: “swim at your own risk.”