Good news! Louisiana did not make the list! Our neighbors to the West, Texas did though. The article by Huffington Post's Emma Gray is titled 'Beach Contamination: The United States' Worst Offenders' and you will not want sink your toes in the sand in any of these contamination hot spots. Yuck!

Click here for a map of the 200 most popular beaches, you will be able to read the ratings for your favorite beach.

The 10 beaches that made the naughty list are all repeat offenders. According to Gray, these spots were targeted for "persistent contamination problems" over the past 4 years. What is the big nasty problem? Bacterial count in the water of these beaches, according to the National Resources Defense Council or NRDC. For 21 years the NRDC has been monitoring the water safety of our beaches. Through the NRDC website you can hunt down the cleanest beaches in America right down to state specific searches.

 

Gulf Coast Beaches
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Skin rashes, pink eye and gastrointestinal illnesses are the three most common side effects of swimming in contaminated water according to the NRDC. Even worse, sometimes the sand can be even more contaminated than the water! Here is a video of NRDC finding from 2 years ago that discovered multiple Gulf Coast having less than ideal water quality.

 

 

 

 

This year, Wisconsin, California, Texas, and Florida made the naughty list. California led the pack with the most public beaches making the repeat offender list due to poor water quality. These offenders are among beaches currently monitored by the NRDC. I'm sure there are some unmonitored cesspools out there as well. The worst in Texas was Ropes Park in Nueces County Texas, near Corpus Christi. Ropes Park has battled sewer overflow problems surrounded their beach. Sewer---the one and only word you have to say to me to rule out a leisurely swim.

 

Here are the  5 "Superstar" beaches for this year as named by the NRDC:

  • Delaware: Rehoboth Beach-Rehoboth Avenue Beach, in Sussex County
  • Delaware: Dewey Beach, in Sussex County
  • Minnesota: Park Point Lafayette Community Club Beach, in St. Louis County
  • New Hampshire: Hampton Beach State Park in Rockingham County

If you are headed to a Florida beach you can check the water quality right here. The water quality at Florida beaches is tested weekly.

Alabama beaches were also named among the cleanest in the country recently. Read more here.

And I tried to find information on the cleanest beaches in Louisiana and my computer laughed so hard it cried and may have even tinkled its britches.

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