Surf pollution continues to trouble the Myrtle Beach area as the glittery coastal resort works to remove drainage pipes that for decades have carried contaminated runoff to the ocean where people swim.
A national report released Wednesday found that beaches along the Grand Strand failed more often to meet a federal safe swimming standard for ocean water than other parts of the coast – and that contributed heavily to the state’s low national ranking for beach water quality.
Overall, South Carolina beaches ranked seventh worst in the country for water quality, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s 24th annual study. In the South, only Louisiana and Mississippi failed a higher percentage of the time to meet a national bacteria standard for safe swimming than South Carolina, the environmental group’s report said.
Statistics show that 15 percent of the water quality samples taken in South Carolina last summer exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended standard for safe swimming. Nationally, 10 percent of the samples taken exceeded the standard, the NRDC said.
But on the Grand Strand, about 20 percent of the 1,538 water samples taken in 2013 exceeded the EPA’s standard, according to data in the report. That standard is 60 colonies of enterococcus bacteria per 100 milliliters, a level meant to protect human health. The EPA is urging states to warn swimmers when the standard is exceeded.