MB Campground beaches among nation’s most polluted

WASHINGTON - The Natural Resources Defense Council released a report assessing water quality at many of the nation’s most popular beaches, based on the number of days last year they closed or issued health advisories because of contaminated water.

The beach at the Pirateland and Lakewood campgrounds in Myrtle Beach was the only Carolinas beach named among the nation’s 22 most contaminated - those that violated federal public health standards at least half the time samples were taken last year, a far greater rate of violation than the national average of 8 percent.

Jim DeFeo, general manager of the Lakewood Camping Resort, objected to his beach’s inclusion on the list of contaminated sites. Government officials, he said, have not installed at the Lakewood and Pirateland the long pipelines that carry sewage hundreds of yards into the ocean off other Grand Strand beaches.

“Lakewood Camping Resort has daily trash pickup, uses no chemicals on the grounds for fertilization and is a good steward of environmentally friendly business activity,” DeFeo said. “If the water is unsafe or damaged in any way, it’s coming from the thousands of acres in the Surfside area that all drain through the swash near, but not on, our grounds.”

Pirateland managers did not respond to three calls seeking their response.

Source: James Rosen, Washington Bureau