Published: Monday, July 2, 2012 at 11:16 a.m. Last Modified: Monday, July 2, 2012 at 11:16 a.m.

A new report from the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council ranked Louisiana last out of 30 states for its beach water quality.

Samples taken at Louisiana beaches in 2011 found levels of bacteria considered unsafe for swimming 29 percent of the time, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council report. That’s the highest in the country.

Clean beaches are vital to our local, regional and national coastal economies, said Steve Fleischli, acting director of the council. If we want to keep our oceans and tourism industries thriving and healthy, we need our local and federal leaders to step up and adopt smart policies that protect our water, our health and our beach businesses.

Beach water pollution can cause a range of illnesses in swimmers including stomach flu, skin rashes, pink eye, ear, nose and throat problems, dysentery, hepatitis, respiratory ailments, neurological disorders and other serious health problems. For senior citizens, small children and people with weak immune systems, these infections can be fatal.

Five Louisiana beaches were listed as repeat offenders for having persistent bacterial contamination problems. Those beaches were all in Cameron Parish, including Constance Beach, Gulf Breeze, Little Florida, Long Beach and Rutherford Beach.

Beaches were ranked with one to five stars depending on their water quality, the frequency of water quality monitoring and public notification when problems came up.

No beaches in Louisiana achieved the best five-star ranking, but beaches at South Padre Island in Texas and Gulf Shores, Ala., did.

The report looked at 26 testing locations in Louisiana, including Fourchon Beach and Grand Isle. Elmer’s Island was not tested for bacteria in 2011 because it had only recently opened to the public. Testing will begin on Elmer’s Island this year.

Fourchon Beach had a clean slate, with no water samples testing positive for unsafe levels of bacteria. Fourchon, a private beach, is closed to the public because of the BP oil spill. Of the seven locations tested on Grand Isle, waters in the state park tested the worst, exceeding safe bacteria levels 18 percent of the time.

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