by Jo Campbell, Editor, Ecotopics International News ServiceŠ

Water is vital to resort communities like those on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Whether folks are drinking it or swimming in it, the water resources can support only so many. The drinking water supply and the bathing beaches of Ocean City, MD, for example, may be skating close to the slimy edge, according to experts in biology, hydrogeology and ecology.

Whether it is a zoo cage with too many leopards or an Ocean City with too many tourists, says ecologist Wayne Asplen, cities must realize finite resources can't absorb infinite numbers of people.

"The community starts to break down," said Asplen in an interview.

A scholar in ecology and the environment for 29 years, Asplen has served as Regional Consultant for the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Residents of the popular resort of Ocean City, MD, have become concerned at the growing salt content of their drinking water. The salt diminishes during the slower winter season, but the business and development interests of the city continue to push for longer "shoulder seasons" extending into Spring and Fall. In addition, a recently-passed land-use plan permits greatly increased building heights.

City Manager Dennis Dare's view that these "skyrises" will cause no density changes does not reassure the worried townsfolk.

"Size of buildings has nothing to do with density," said Dare. He breaks everything down to dwelling units representing 3.5 people; 100 units to an acre. These units can be placed one unit high or piled on top of one another, Dare said. Density stays the same.

Regardless of units and averages, Ocean City's worried resident population has grown from about 3,000 in the early 1980s to more than 7,500. The summer visitor total for 1995 hit 4,193,232 with a high weekend in mid-August of 319,755.

"Use is the key (to the water problem)," according to Wayne Asplen. "The community really does have to be concerned... As a resort gets closer to year-round use, the salt water is going to be much more serious ...

"Every time you increase the population, you increase every kind of hazard -- accidental traffic death, drowning, contamination, disease..."

Inner city ghettos of Washington and Baltimore are good examples, according to Asplen. A community that has overpopulated beyond its capacity ... breaks down. In order to survive, cities must maintain limits, he said.

Beach pollution is a vital part of the water question, and the Human Risk Assessment officers of the Environmental Protection Agency are hoping to implement a uniform standard of pollution measurement. According to EPA's senior biologist Dr. Steve Schaub, all epidemiological evidence points to a need for change of pollution analysis organism and method in Maryland. The state now uses fecal coliform counted by most probable number per 100 mililitres. The EPA has for some years recommended using entero cocci counted by membrane filtration. Ocean City says "It's expensive." It is also considered irrelevant to human health.

Jack Kumer, Natural Resources Specialist with the National Park Service at Assateague Island National Seashore, issued a report based on use of the EPA methods.

"Ocean City does not want to end up like New Jersey where they waited until it was too late and realized how bad it was when people were leaving the state," he said in an interview. "Down here, I think there is enough interest in keeping Ocean City alive that eventually they are going to have to come around. It may take a little prodding, and that is what people do."

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