VOA标准英语2015--:加州开发水质预警系统

California Developing Warning System for Water Quality at Beaches 加州开发水质预警系统

LOS ANGELES—

The current drought in California means less water runoff from cities and cleaner ocean water for beachgoers.  Some beaches, however, are still polluted, including some tourist hotspots. Now, researchers are developing a faster way to check beach water quality.

The famous sun and surf of southern California may look glamorous¹, but what beachgoers cannot see in some of the ocean water is anything but attractive, says Angelo Bellomo of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

“When we have runoff from the urban environment, it could be carrying with it contamination due to animal waste, sewage overflows²; and if those enter the beaches through the normal pipes that terminate in the ocean, you want to avoid contact with water during those periods,” he says.

Bellomo says a number of infectious diseases could be transmitted in ocean water.  

Plenty of people, however, play in the water at the beach at Santa Monica Pier³, one of the most polluted beaches in California.

‘A little ridiculous’

Public health officials are concerned and are looking at a better way of determining water quality.  Water at the beaches is monitored with a lab test.  If the quality is poor, a sign is posted; but, it does not necessarily reflect what is in the water that day, says Leslie Griffin with the environmental group, Heal the Bay.  

“Right now it takes 18 to 24 hours to get those water quality results, but we think that that is a little ridiculous because we want people to know the day of when they are going in the water whether or not they can be getting sick,” Griffith says.

Researchers in California are developing what they call a predictive modeling system that could speed up the process, says Heal the Bay’s James Alamillo.

“It can take 15 minutes to produce a similar result in terms of a public health decision,” Alamillo says.

‘Nowcasting’

With the help of computers, researchers pull data from the environment and a prediction is made about the water quality of that day.  It is called "Nowcasting."    

Some of the environmental data may include wind speed and direction, wave information and historic bacterial⁴ counts, but the beaches are unique in their own way, so the models have to be tailor-made for each one.  

So far, Angelo Bellomo says the predictive modeling looks promising⁵.

“We think that the modeling that we have seen so far is generally more accurate than the testing that we are doing, and the reason for that is that even though it is a model and it's predicting water quality, it is more timely,” Bellomo says.

Hong Kong and the U.S. state of Ohio have similar methods of predicting water quality.  The experts on the U.S. West Coast say predictive modeling may be the best tool they have until technology advances and offers a faster way of testing the water in the lab.

1 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

2 overflows   

v.溢出，淹没( overflow的第三人称单数 )；充满；挤满了人；扩展出界，过度延伸

参考例句：

• He always fills his glass till it overflows. 他总是把杯子斟得很满。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A distributary overflows its banks. 分流水溢出河岸。 来自辞典例句

3 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

4 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。