MAPS

Click an umbrella to find out how NRDC rated that beach on the basis of five key criteria for protecting beachgoers from swimming in polluted water.

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How does your favorite beach measure up? Let us know!

Your Comments

Mon, 06/22/2009 - 9:26am Marilyn from Ogunquit, ME: And where's the listing for ...
Mon, 09/15/2008 - 10:44am Druanne from Staten Island, NY: Staten Island has beaches, ...
Mon, 09/15/2008 - 9:06am Steve Winans from Temperanceville, Va: Any clean beach listing that ...
Mon, 08/11/2008 - 4:26pm Lake Ontario from Oswego, NY: Why not include the Great ...
Sat, 08/02/2008 - 8:39pm Dee from New york: No litter at Long Beach, it ...

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Northeast Beachgoers Water Quality Map

More about the Map

NRDC chose a selection of popular swimming beaches from across the country for these ratings, and rated only those where water quality information is available for 2005, 2006 and 2007. For many large beaches, information is reported by segments. In these cases we rated each segment, but only for those where we had information from 2005 through 2007.

The data for NRDC’s beach ratings (click here to see all the ratings) are taken from Testing the Waters 2008, NRDC’s annual survey of beachwater quality. The report, in turn, draws primarily on data reported to and by the Environmental Protection Agency for 2007, the most recent year for which data is available. The ratings are based on our own evaluation of the data. To see our criteria, click here.

For the second year in a row the Gannett news organization has worked with NRDC to publicize beach info. You'll find links to comprehensive Gannett maps for each state within each beach description.