Newport's Beaches Score Five-Star Rating for Water Quality

Two sections of Newport Beach have been ranked among the best beaches in the country, for the second year in a row, according to a report released last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The beaches at 38th Street and 52nd/53rd Street are two of only 13 beaches to earn a five-star rating this year out of the 200 most popular beaches surveyed by the NRDC'S 23rd annual beachwater quality report.

In addition to Newport, Bolsa Chica Beach and San Clemente State Beach also received five-stars based on beachwater quality, monitoring frequency and public notification of contamination.

The NRDC's annual report analyzed government data on beach-water testing from 2012 at 3,673 beaches nationwide. The report ranked California 20th out of 30 states in Beachwater Quality. The report found the most common reported causes of contamination came from stormwater runoff, sewage overflows, agricultural runoff, boating waste and beachgoers.

The report listed Orange County's Poche Beach on the nationwide "Repeat Offender'' list. Water samples from these two beaches and 15 others from across the country violated public health standards more than 25 percent of the time for each year from 2007 to 2011, according to the report.

Water quality of America's beaches improved slightly, with 7 percent violating the Environmental Protection Agency's health standards in 2012 compared to 8 percent in 2011, according to the report.

Read the full report at www.nrdc.org/beaches.

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