South Carolina is ninth in the nation for cleanest beach water, but Horry County has the dirtiest water in the state, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council's 21st annual "Testing the Water" report issued Wednesday.
Of the 63 beaches in S.C., 23 are tested on a regular basis for water quality, and 5 percent of those samples taken exceeded the state’s daily maximum bacterial and pollutant standards in 2010, according to the study.
The other 40 beaches in the state were not monitored or counted. In 2009, 4 percent of the samples exceeded state standards.
05-09-11/Monday----Beachcombers walk the surf in May along the beach near the boardwalk in Myrtle Beach. File Photo
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 888 samples last year, while 20 were taken from Huntington Beach State Park.
The report covers more than 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.
Special “Repeat Offenders” and “Superstar Beaches” lists were also presented in the study, but Horry County didn’t make either list.
To read more about this topic, see Thursday's edition of The Sun News.
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