The Best and Worst Beaches for Water Quality in the U.S.
What's This?
Millions of Americans will be hitting the beach this summer, but when it comes to water quality, not all beaches are created equal.
According to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), 10% of beaches in the U.S. contained bacterial levels that failed to meet the EPA's most protective benchmark for swimmer safety in 2013. The report found that water pollution continues to be an issue at many U.S. beaches.
“Sewage and contaminated runoff in the water should never ruin a family beach trip,” said Jon Devine, the senior attorney for NRDC. "There can be hidden dangers in many of our favorite waterways."
This is the 24th annual beach report from the NRDC, which used the EPA's new "Beach Action Value" (BAV) to rate water quality. The EPA considers BAV to be a "precautionary benchmark" for making decisions about safety for beachgoers. BAV has a lower threshold for contamination than guidelines used in past years, both by the NRDC and by individual states and organizations testing water safety.
The values are provided to states so they can alert beachgoers. The states with the worst beach failure rate were Ohio, Alaska and Mississippi; Delaware, New Hampshire and New Jersey did the best.
Steve Fleischli, director of the Water Program at NRDC, said that the elderly and children are most at risk of being threatened by contaminated water containing Enterococci and E. coli bacteria. He said beachgoers should check the water quality before they go.
"You might just need to go down the road adjacent to a polluted beach and it might be just fine," he said. He also said beachgoers should look for signs warning of any recent pollutants, and to look for flowing drains.
"If there's a pipe dumping out to the beach," he said. "That's where the most pollution typically is."
The best beaches
The beaches that made NRDC's "superstar" list, which met water quality benchmarks 98% of the time for the past five years, are:
Alabama:
Gulf Shores Public Beach in Baldwin County
Gulf State Park Pavilion in Baldwin County
Dauphin Island Public Beach
California:
Newport Beach in Orange County
Newport Beach - 38th Street
Delaware:
Dewey Beach-Swedes in Sussex County
Florida:
Bowman’s Beach in Lee County
Coquina Beach South in Manatee County
Fort Desoto North Beach in Pinellas County
Georgia:
Tybee Island North in Chatham County
Hawaii:
Hapuna Beach St. Rec. Area in Big Island
Po’ipu Beach Park in Kauai
Wailea Beach Park in Maui
Massachusetts:
Singing Beach in Essex County
Maryland:
Point Lookout State Park in St Mary's County
Assateague State Park in Worcester County
North Carolina:
Ocean Pier at Main St. and Sunset Blvd. in Brunswick County
Beach at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Dare County
Ocean Pier at Salisbury Street in Wrightsville Beach in New Hanover
Ocean Pier at Ocean Blvd. and Crews Ave. in Topsail Beach in Pender County
New Hampshire:
Hampton Beach State Park in Rockingham County
Wallis Sands Beach at Wallis Rd. in Rockingham County
Wallis Sands State Park in Rockingham County
New Jersey:
Washington (Margate) in Atlantic County
40th St. (Avalon) in Cape May County
40th St. (Sea Isle City) in Cape May County
Stone Harbor at 96th St. in Cape May County
Upper Township at Webster Rd. in Cape May County
Wildwood Crest at Orchid in Cape May County
Broadway (Pt. Pleasant Beach) in Ocean County
New York:
Long Beach City in Nassau County
Virginia:
Virginia Beach at 28th St. in Virginia Beach County
Virginia Beach at 45th St in Virginia Beach County
Back Bay Beach in Virginia Beach County
Virginia Beach - Little Island Beach North in Virginia Beach County
Washington:
Westhaven State Park, South Jetty in Grays Harbor
The worst beaches
Seventeen beaches in the U.S. had persistent contamination problems, according to the report. Those beaches are:
California:
Malibu Pier, 50 yards east of the pier, in Los Angeles County
Indiana:
Jeorse Park Beach in Lake County (both monitored sections):
Lake Jeorse Park Beach I
Lake Jeorse Park Beach II
Massachusetts:
Cockle Cove Creek in Barnstable County
Maine:
Goodies Beach in Knox County
New Jersey:
Beachwood Beach in Ocean County
New York:
Main Street Beach in Chautauqua County
Wright Park – East in Chautauqua County
Ontario Beach in Monroe County
Ohio:
Lakeshore Park in Ashtabula County
Arcadia Beach in Cuyahoga County
Euclid State Park in Cuyahoga County
Noble Beach in Cuyahoga County
Sims Beach in Cuyahoga County
Villa Angela State Park in Cuyahoga County
Edson Creek in Erie County
Wisconsin:
South Shore Beach in Milwaukee County
To see how beaches near you ranked, you can search by zip code with a tool Newsweek made:
NRDC also has a searchable Google Map on their website.
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Topics: beaches, Lifestyle, Travel & Leisure, U.S., vacations, water quality
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