The Dirty South?

Saturday's editorial shines light on the methodology of a recent report critical of our beaches, and suggests it's telling us nothing new.

This week, the National Resources Defense Council released its annual beach rankings, praising the four-star beaches of North Carolina and Georgia but giving only one demeaning star to Myrtle Beach. Are we really the chili dog beach spoiling a caviar coastline?

A close reading of the report suggests that while the star rankings are probably disingenuous, our area still has work to do. On the other hand, the shortcoming the report highlights on our beaches - excess bacteria caused by stormwater runoff - is really news to nobody.

Although the council's use of a five-star system suggests a holistic judgment - similar to a restaurant or hotel review - it's actually more of a simple check box system. Each of the five stars represents a specific attribute:

- The one star Myrtle Beach received was for posting advisories on the beach itself during bacteria events, just as more than 90 percent of the 200 other beaches on the list do.

- The second star concerns the frequency a beach's bacteria levels are tested. The state tests Grand Strand waters once a week - more than anywhere else in S.C. - but the council requires twice a week for a star. Myrtle Beach city spokesman Mark Kruea said the city does its own testing separate from the state, also once a week, but does not get credit for it.

- The third star is for immediately notifying the public when a high sample is received. Samples with the highest contamination will result in immediate notification, said S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Adam Myrick, but midrange samples are retested on the second day before an advisory is issued. This policy, we would note, may be worth revisiting - why not alert people right away?

The final two stars - awarded to North Myrtle Beach, Edisto Island and Hilton Head, but not Myrtle or Surfside Beach - concern the actual rate of bacteria discovery in the water, one for water quality in 2008, and one for the three-year average. Here, the results are as ugly as locals know to expect.

Beaches that return contaminated samples more than 5 percent of the time are denied a star, and much of our area falls far short. Myrtle Beach's rate, the highest in the state, sits at 15 percent. On either side of us, Surfside Beach's is at 12 percent, and Briarcliffe Acres' is at 10 percent.

Overall, unacceptable levels of bacteria were found in 11 percent of the 1,687 samples taken in Horry County last year. The next closest coastal county? Beaufort, with 2 percent - putting Horry County in a league all its own.

The contamination, of course, is caused by water from hard rains that collects pollutants as it runs off of paved surfaces and drains into the ocean. A community like the Grand Strand, so heavily developed on the oceanfront, is bound to see higher bacteria levels.

Kruea notes that Myrtle Beach is fortunate that stormwater is its only concern - not industrial chemicals or sewage, for example - and that bacteria levels here have improved in recent years. Stormwater is the city's "No. 1" priority, he said, noting the city has spent more than $25 million on three outfalls already and has a fourth one planned in the upcoming boardwalk project. "You're burying a lot of money to handle rain," Kruea said.

A Google News search indicates reports of the rankings have thus far gotten little traction, so their effect on the local tourism will hopefully be minimal. In the meantime, protecting our area's primary asset will obviously remain a focus for us, and overly simplistic reports a reminder of the work we have yet to do.

A close reading of the report suggests that while the star rankings are probably disingenuous, our area still has work to do. On the other hand, the shortcoming the report highlights on our beaches - excess bacteria caused by stormwater runoff - is really news to nobody.

Although the council's use of a five-star system suggests a holistic judgment - similar to a restaurant or hotel review - it's actually more of a simple check box system. Each of the five stars represents a specific attribute:

- The one star Myrtle Beach received was for posting advisories on the beach itself during bacteria events, just as more than 90 percent of the 200 other beaches on the list do.

- The second star concerns the frequency a beach's bacteria levels are tested. The state tests Grand Strand waters once a week - more than anywhere else in S.C. - but the council requires twice a week for a star. Myrtle Beach city spokesman Mark Kruea said the city does its own testing separate from the state, also once a week, but does not get credit for it.

- The third star is for immediately notifying the public when a high sample is received. Samples with the highest contamination will result in immediate notification, said S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Adam Myrick, but midrange samples are retested on the second day before an advisory is issued. This policy, we would note, may be worth revisiting - why not alert people right away?

The final two stars - awarded to North Myrtle Beach, Edisto Island and Hilton Head, but not Myrtle or Surfside Beach - concern the actual rate of bacteria discovery in the water, one for water quality in 2008, and one for the three-year average. Here, the results are as ugly as locals know to expect.

Beaches that return contaminated samples more than 5 percent of the time are denied a star, and much of our area falls far short. Myrtle Beach's rate, the highest in the state, sits at 15 percent. On either side of us, Surfside Beach's is at 12 percent, and Briarcliffe Acres' is at 10 percent.

Overall, unacceptable levels of bacteria were found in 11 percent of the 1,687 samples taken in Horry County last year. The next closest coastal county? Beaufort, with 2 percent - putting Horry County in a league all its own.

The contamination, of course, is caused by water from hard rains that collects pollutants as it runs off of paved surfaces and drains into the ocean. A community like the Grand Strand, so heavily developed on the oceanfront, is bound to see higher bacteria levels.

Kruea notes that Myrtle Beach is fortunate that stormwater is its only concern - not industrial chemicals or sewage, for example - and that bacteria levels here have improved in recent years. Stormwater is the city's "No. 1" priority, he said, noting the city has spent more than $25 million on three outfalls already and has a fourth one planned in the upcoming boardwalk project. "You're burying a lot of money to handle rain," Kruea said.

A Google News search indicates reports of the rankings have thus far gotten little traction, so their effect on the local tourism will hopefully be minimal. In the meantime, protecting our area's primary asset will obviously remain a focus for us, and overly simplistic reports a reminder of the work we have yet to do.