Nonprofit report trashes Horry County beaches

South Carolina has the eighth cleanest beach water in the nation, but Horry County beach water is the dirtiest in the state, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council's 20th annual "Testing the Water" report issued Wednesday.

But Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath called the report "bull."

"It's so incomplete and misleading, it's laughable," he said. "They've been whacking on us for years. They never give us a good rating, no matter what we do."

Leath said the report doesn't take into account that the city and the state test the water here, gives the area no extra credit for posting permanent signs to warn people about the water after all rainfall instead of waiting 24 hours to get test results, and misleads people by saying "the beach" as if all 10 miles of the city's coastline were polluted.

Nationally, the number of beach advisories and closures has gone down along ocean and Great Lakes fronts, but the NRDC says that's partly because California reduced the funding for its water-testing programs and because some areas, such as Hawaii, are having drier years, which means less stormwater runoff, less pollutants in the water.

The report's national rankings list the top 10 states as New Hampshire, Delaware, Oregon, Virginia, Hawaii, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, Washington and Florida. The bottom five are Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Rhode Island and Louisiana.

Of the 63 beaches in South Carolina, 23 are tested on a regular basis for water quality, and 4 percent of samples taken at those 23 beaches exceeded state standards for bacteria and pollutants during 2009, the report shows. The other 40 beaches are not monitored and were not counted in the report. In 2008, 7 percent of the water samples exceeded state standards.

The report cited Horry County beaches as exceeding water standards most often, a phenomenon that could be partly explained by Horry County testing more often than other regions. Horry County samples made up 69 percent of those tested in the state last year. For example, Myrtle Beach took 515 samples last year, while 20 were taken from Huntington Beach State Park.

The report covers 3,000 of the nation's beaches, offers a special look at the effects of the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and rates 200 of the nation's top vacation beaches on a five-star water quality scale.

The report shows Gulf region beaches from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle have been closed or faced health warnings nearly 10 times more often this summer than last because of oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon leak.

More than 2,200 closings, health advisories or notices were issued by state or local authorities through Tuesday because of oil from the nearly three-month-long spill.

In looking at the percent of water-monitoring samples that exceeded South Carolina's acceptable bacteria levels, the nonprofit NRDC found the beaches with the highest rates of exceeding standards were:

South Carolina State Park and Campground, 15 percent;

Surfside Beach, 10 percent;

Springmaid Beach, 9 percent;

Myrtle Beach, 7 percent.

Horry County's 6 percent overall rate was the highest in the state, followed by Colleton County with 1 percent of samples exceeding state standards and Charleston County a little behind. There were no problems reported in Beaufort or Georgetown counties.

South Carolina State Park and Campground, Myrtle Beach, Springmaid Beach and Surfside Beach each received a one-star rating out of a possible five because, the report says, they only meet one of the quality criteria - posting closings and advisories online and at the beach.

North Myrtle Beach received three stars for its overall water quality last year and in the past three years, plus its timely reporting of beach advisories and closings.

The report rates the beaches based on overall water quality for 2009, the water quality for the past three years, how often water quality is tested, how promptly the advisories are issued when there is a problem and whether an area posts closings and advisories online and at the beach.

The other S.C. beaches that earned three stars are Hilton Head Island, Hunting Island, Edisto Beach and Folly Beach. No S.C. beach earned more than three stars. Arcadia Beach in Horry County earned two stars, one for posting its advisories and one for last year's overall water quality.

Surfside Beach Mayor Allen Deaton said water quality is a complex issue with many facets to consider.

Deaton, who used to lead his town's stormwater committee, said part of the reason his beach exceeds standards 9 percent of the time is because there is a lot of water testing and reporting going on there between the city, Coastal Carolina University and the state.

What's in the water? Runoff from streets and impervious surfaces such as parking lots and rooftops carries human and animal waste and its bacteria. The report specifically mentions that people need to pick up after their animals, but also need to make sure children wear plastic swim diapers, too.

Runoff also carries metals and chemicals. When it rains, water is flushed down drainage systems into creeks that run into Myrtle Beach's swashes and out into the ocean. The pollutants get into the fish and other aquatic creatures, plants and into humans.

Withers Swash alone carries one third of Myrtle Beach's stormwater into the ocean, and it is reports like the NRDC's that prompted people to begin looking at ways to restore the swash's environment. The more natural filters are available, the cleaner the water by the time it reaches the ocean.

When advisories are issued, they are for the area in and directly around the swashes - 200 yards on both sides, Leath said.

"That's a very small area, not 'the beach,'" he said.

Deaton said his city uses a $6 million, recently upgraded system of retention ponds, lakes and swashes, and there is increased bacteria after the "first flush" after a storm. Part of that is because the city has seen an increase in the goose and swan populations, and the city is a bird sanctuary.

"It's a Catch-22," he said. "What do we do, run them off? But we are aware of the problem, we are monitoring it, and we are on top of it."

Reports like this and a general movement toward sustainability have prompted groups such as the Withers Estuary Community Collaborative and the Withers Swash District task force to try to help the area, from working on restoring the swash basin's oyster population and bankside habitat to plans to redevelop the whole 4.2-square-mile estuary and include more eco-friendly transportation options, linear parks, streetscapes and buildings. The City Council is considering whether to include the Withers Swash District master plan in its comprehensive plan update this year.

But Leath said the report issued Wednesday isn't going to change Myrtle Beach's actions or attitudes. The city is going to continue monitoring the water, working on stormwater management and working toward becoming a more sustainable and green town.