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Report: Record beach health warnings issuedFrom Paul Courson WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Water quality was so poor at beaches across the United States last year that authorities ordered a record number of health warnings, according to the latest annual report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. The nonprofit environmental group said nearly 20,000 closings and health advisory days were ordered in 2004 -- a 9 percent increase from last year and the highest number since the organizations began the tracking 15 years ago. Officials acknowledged not all of the problems are from increased contamination and pollution, saying the record number is partly a function of improved monitoring of water quality. High levels of bacteria linked with human or animal waste prompted about 85 percent of last year's closing and advisory days, the report found. Sources of such contamination include a failure of sewage treatment or high storm runoff from agricultural areas. Texas had the biggest increase in the number of beach health warnings compared with a year earlier, up more than 1,000 percent. Washington state was up 700 percent from 2003's tally, and Maryland was more than 400 percent higher. "We need more federal help for local communities to control runoff and update their aging sewage systems," said Nancy Stoner, director of the clean-water project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement released with the report. The numbers are compiled from a database established by the Environmental Protection Agency initially covering 27 states. The council obtained beach closing information from additional states and localities that monitor for bacterial contamination of beach water. 
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