European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine by Steve greenhouse new York times a though germans Are Loath to admit it sea pollution has even reached Sylt an Island Long famous for its Pristine beaches and the summer resort of Choice for West Germany s industrialists. At Westerland on Sylt s Eastern Shore just South of the danish Border scientists have found fish with tutors and lesions believed to be caused by metals that industries have dumped into the Rhine. Elbe and other Rivers flowing into the North sea. In june a huge Bloom of algae resulting from excess nitrates and phosphates in the sea produced an eerie three foot thick Blanket of foul smelling White foam that covered Many of Sylt s beaches. In addition Sylt was the first place in West Germany where seals died in a recent epidemic that killed about 7,000 of them or half the North sea s Seal population. Many scientists say pollution had weakened the seals immunological systems enabling a highly contagious virus to kill them. For the germans it is quite a Shock to have pollution associated with Sylt said Fokker Popp who organized a demonstration late in july in which 30,000 people formed a 25-mile Chain from one end of the Island to the other to protest sea pollution. From Penzance in Southwest England to the Island of Corfu off Western Greece More and More people Are asking whether enough is being done to let the seas of Europe live. The Northern Adriatic has become More or less a dead sea because of chemical pollution. Poland has closed several Baltic sea beaches where environmentalists maintain that bathers had caught typhoid fever and dysentery. And London s sewerage system overflowed 18 months ago causing the death in the thames Estuary of some one million fish. In a recent Survey the european Consumers Union found that such Well known beaches As Deauville and Saint maid in France. San Sebastian and Marbella in Spain. Sorrento in Italy and Corfu in Greece failed to meet european Community guidelines on Beach cleanliness. Many beaches in Europe remain unhealthy even though the dec and the United nations started a cleanup program there in the mid-1970s. More than 20 percent of the beaches still fail to comply with International standards for the maximum amount of bacteria and metals that swimming Waters should contain. For example a recent sampling found that Penzance of Gilbert and Sullivan Fame had 50,000 col form bacteria in one tenth of a liter 3.4 ounces of water polluted seas along Europe s beaches the dumping of wastes into the North sea and the Medit Teranen by european nations is slowly destroying beaches. 100 times the dec guideline because sewage was pumped out close to the Beach. Britain dumps or pumps five million tons of sewage sludge into the sea each year. Brian Bayne a Marine biologist with the British natural environment research Council said it is Clear that we Are putting too Many burdens on a Semi enclosed body of water like the North sea and a nearly enclosed body like the  the sources of pollution in Europe Are Man made and manifold. Industries in France Switzerland West Germany and the Netherlands dump waste into the Rhine River. Runoff from Farmland pours Large amounts of fertilizer nutrients like nitrates and phosphates into Rivers and sea allowing algae to grow in overabundance. About 400,000 tons of Oil seeps into the North sea each year from offshore rigs ships washing out their tanks at sea and from other sources. Seventy percent of the cities along the Mediterranean pump unprocessed sewage into the sea. We re making Progress too slowly said Aldo Manos director of the Mediterranean action plan a cleanup program started in 1975 under the Aegis of the United nations environment program. Europe can do a lot better. It has the resources. There Are no technological breakthroughs  he pointed to a new $180 million sewage treatment Plant in Marseille and to the italian government s $3-billion plan to clean up the to River which has become Northern Italy s cesspool for sewage chemical waste and farm run off. He also said 80 percent of the Mediterranean s beaches were clean for swimming this year up from 65 percent last year. In its most recent report the european Community said 50 percent of Belgium s beaches were clean and 44 percent of Britain s. That compared with 79 percent in France and 77 percent in Denmark. Environmental groups often say that assertions of Progress by government officials Are self congratulatory exaggerations. Italian officials said 86 percent of their beaches were clean in 1987, up from 81 percent the year before. But the italian association for the environment disagreed saying its surveys found that 34 percent of coastal Waters were unsanitary in 1987 compared with 10 percent in 1986. In certain ways the Mediterranean is a Little cleaner because a few cities have added sewage plants said Yves Pac Calet who is co author with Jacques Yves Cousteau the French oceanographer of a Book about Mediterranean pollution. But almost everywhere there is an increase of pollution in heavy metals such As Mercury cadmium and  Cousteau and Pac Calet assert that recent cleanup efforts ignore what they see As the greatest peril. They say the mechanical destruction of the coastal ecosystem through new hotels ports factories and apartment buildings is obliterating a crucial environment. This Pac Calet said is the Prairie that provides the principal nutrients for the sea and is where Many animals reproduce. This Prairie is fast disappearing. When we look at what Cousteau filmed off the French coast 40 years ago the riches you see Are extraordinary. Now it s a  a typical Mediterranean pollution Story is the Small Industrial suburb of Mont Gat North of Barcelona Spain. There a 65-Yard wide Sandy Beach is wedged Between the Railroad tracks and the brackish Mediterranean where plastic bottles could be seen Bobbing in the Waves on a recent Day. On saturdays and sundays Barcelona residents throng to the Beach because it is just five Miles away. In its Survey the european consumer Union found that Mont Gat s water was heavily polluted with Zinc cadmium and Lead and its col form bacteria exceeded european Community guidelines. You often see dead fish and plastic bottles and several friends told me they found syringes in the water said Enric Dalta Boit Roca a Barcelona High school student who goes to Mont Gat because of its convenience. I Don t understand Why the government has put up the Blue Flag for  in 1975, members of the european Community agreed to have All their beaches comply with Community standards within 10 years. Things seem to have remained essentially unchanged since then said Ludwig Kramer director of Legal enforcement for the Community s environmental division. Many european officials say Britain is the worst laggard on Beach Quality. At a conference on the North sea last year Britain refused appeals to Stop dumping sludge into the sea. Wednesday August 24, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 13