Water quality at Pennsylvania's Lake Erie beaches showed marked improvement last year, and beach closings and advisories in the Great Lakes and Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coastal areas declined slightly from record high levels in 2006.

According to the Natural Resource Defense Council's 18th annual beach water quality report released today, only six beach closings and health advisory days were recorded last year on Pennsylvania's Lake Erie beaches, an 85 percent decline from 2006.

All of the closings and advisories were caused by elevated bacteria levels due to stormwater pollution that washed untreated sewage into the lake.

Nationally, based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the number of beach closings and advisories issued topped 20,000 for the third consecutive year, indicating that swimmers' health continues at risk, the report said. The most advisories and closings nationally occurred in 2006.

"Some families can't enjoy their local beaches because they are polluted and kids are getting sick, largely because of human and animal waste in the water," said Nancy Stoner, director of the NRDC's clean water project.

Across the nation, 7 percent of beach water samples violated federal health standards. In the Great Lakes, 15 percent of the samples violated those standards, the highest percentage of any region in the nation.

The report criticized beach water standards that are more than 20 years old and said they rely on outdated water sampling and testing methods that leave beachgoers vulnerable to a range of illnesses, including gastroenteritis, dysentery, hepatitis and respiratory ailments.

The NRDC also urged Congress to pass pending Beach Protection Act legislation that would provide money for water sampling and require use of faster testing methods that provide more timely information to beach users about whether the water is safe.