Everybody knows that Beaufort County has some of the most beautiful beaches in the entire country, but a recent study by EnvironmentAmerica.org says Beaufort’s beaches also some of the cleanest and healthiest as well.
Researchers with the Frontier Group and the Environment America Research & Policy Center spent a year recently testing for water pollution at over 4,500 spots on U.S. beaches and some of the findings are alarming, while others are quite positive….like when it comes to our local beaches here in Beaufort.
While the study found that at least 60% of the beaches tested had unsafe pollution levels at least once during the testing, it also found that 98% of the time we can all enjoy the water around Beaufort County without any pollution present.
Yes, Beaufort’s beaches are among the cleanest you will find in the entire U.S.
The study shows that out all of the beaches that were tested in Beaufort, there is potentially unsafe water only 2% of the time.
That’s pretty darn good.
The study also gives a thumbs up to beaches in both Colleton and Charleston counties where there was found to be potentially unsafe water only 1% of the time.
The same could not be said for other areas.
According to the study, 122 beach sites were sampled in South Carolina and tests at 55 of them indicated potentially unsafe levels of contamination on at least one day. A sampling site at Withers Swash in Horry County tested as potentially unsafe for 32 days, more days than any other site in the state, and 46 percent of the days that sampling took place.
In Horry County, the average beach was potentially unsafe for swimming on 20 percent of the days that sampling took place, a higher percentage than any other county in the state.
That covers, among others, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Atlantic Beach and Surfside Beach; all popular tourist destinations in South Carolina.
More than half of the thousands of beach sites sampled for bacteria across the country were potentially unsafe for swimming on at least one day during the year long study completed in 2018 and released this summer.
What’s causing it?
The study also found that fecal contamination from urban runoff, sewage overflows, failing septic tank systems and concentrated livestock manure all contribute to poor and polluted water quality at America’s beaches. Human contact with the contaminated water indicated by bacteria testing can result in gastro-intestinal illness as well as respiratory disease, ear and eye infections and skin rashes.
Each year in the U.S., swimmers suffer from an estimated 57 million cases of recreational water-borne illness.
But, the chances of that coming from swimming in Beaufort’s local waters are very, very small.
Check out the entire report here and find out what other beaches across the country are safe, and which ones are probably a good idea to avoid.
