Tidiest Great Lakes beaches of them all

Star Tribune

Last update: August 7, 2009 - 9:25 PM

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Minnesota's public beaches along the north shore of Lake Superior are the cleanest of any of the six Great Lakes states, a new report has found.

The National Resources Defense Council's annual "Testing the Waters" survey found that 5 percent of the beaches along the state's shoreline have a level of pollution that is worse than national standards. That's the 14th-best ranking for water quality in the nation.

The primary identified cause of pollution at the 79 public beaches along Superior is storm-water runoff, which is generally the case nationwide, the organization found.

By comparison, 13 percent of Wisconsin's beaches along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan fall below public health standards for swimming, more than twice the national average. That gave Wisconsin a ranking of 26th among all states.

Among the other Great Lakes states -- Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Ohio -- only Ohio had a lower ranking than Wisconsin.

BOB VON STERNBERG

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