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How Polluted Are Our Local Beaches These Days?
Photo by RuggyBearLA via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
An annual report about water quality and beach closures around the nation finds that locally we have a couple of outstanding beaches and a couple that are persistently polluted "repeat offenders."
The Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) "Testing the Waters" report found that things aren't so terrific at our shores around the nation: They "found that the number of beach closing and advisory days in 2011 reached the third-highest level in the 22-year history of [their] report, totaling 23,481 days (a 3% decrease from 2010)."
How did we fare locally? The L.A. Times points out some lows and highs:
Two Southern California beaches made the report's list of 15 "repeat offenders" because of their persistent pollution problems: Avalon Beach on Catalina Island and Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. Three earned a spot on the nation's one dozen "5 star" beaches with outstanding water quality: Newport Beach, Bolsa Chica State Beach and Huntington State Beach.
California ranked 21st out of 30 states when it comes to overall beachwater quality.
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