Report rates beach waters along Va., N.C. among cleanest

By Greg Gaudio

VIRGINIA BEACH

Virginia and North Carolina beaches boast some of the cleanest surf in the nation, according to an annual report released Tuesday.

That stands in contrast to much of the country, where swimmers continue to be put at risk because of serious pollution problems, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported.

Just 2 percent of the samples collected off Virginia and North Carolina beaches last year violated public health standards, the NRDC found.

Only Alaska, New Hampshire, and Delaware achieved a better water quality rating, according to “Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches.”

Virginia “ranks pretty high every year,” said Nancy Stoner, director of the clean water project at the council. “North Carolina does, too.”

In an accompanying ratings guide , each of the locations listed in Virginia Beach – two at Sandbridge and one each at 15th and 28th streets – received three out of a possible five stars . The ratings were based on water quality and testing practices.

Three beaches in Dare County, N.C., were rated four stars, while two others received two stars. All three beaches on Ocracoke Island, N.C., that were rated received four stars.

Myrtle Beach, S.C., which has touted itself as a better alternative for Virginia Beach tourists, earned two stars.

In Hampton Roads, the only other beaches rated in the guide – four locations in Newport News – received one or two stars.

Some of the local results could have been boosted by last summer’s drought, Stoner said. “Because most contamination issues are associated with rainfall, when there’s a drought, there’s likely to be fewer pollution problems at the beach,” she said.

No beaches were closed in Virginia or North Carolina last year, according to the report. In Virginia, there were 50 beach advisory days that involved health warnings, up from 43 in 2006. In North Carolina, the total for such days fell to 123, from 346 in 2006.

Beaches are closed or advisories issued when samples indicate that contamination from human and animal feces is in excess of public health standards.

“There weren’t that many overall,” Stoner said of the local beach advisories. “It looks like just scattered problems at particular places.”

The national numbers tell a different story. There were 22,571 closing and advisory days in 2007, the second-highest tally since the NRDC began issuing the report 18 years ago. The record high – 25,643 days – came in 2006 as a result of heavy rainfall, according to the report.

Last year, 7 percent of all beach water samples violated public health standards, the same percentage as in 2006, the report found.

“That indicates people are swimming more than two days a month in human and animal waste that can make them sick,” Stoner said.

She said solutions include diverting stormwater discharges to wetlands or dunes for natural filtering and adopting rapid testing methods – which can give bacteria levels in two hours instead of 24.

J.R. Tolbert, a field organizer with Environment Virginia, would like to see area localities use the new tests.

“While our beaches are in pretty good shape, there’s a lot more that can be done,” he said. “The fact that there’s a test we’d be able to get if the money were available, I think that totally needs to be done.”

The Beach Protection Act of 2008, which passed the House earlier this year, would double funding for identifying and correcting beach water contamination. The Senate has yet to vote on it.

Greg Gaudio, (757) 222-5125, greg.gaudio@pilotonline.com