Just as vacationers head to the coast to beat the July heat, a new study offers a bit of caution: 82% percent of the almost 300 Gulf Coast beaches that recently underwent water testing were found to have potentially unsafe levels of fecal bacteria.
In Louisiana, 21 beaches were judged likely unsafe for swimming at least one day in 2020, according to a national study of pollution at public beaches by Environment America Research and Policy Center. Cypremort Point Beach in St. Mary Parish and Rutherford Beach in Cameron Parish topped the Louisiana list with 12 unsafe days, and the popular Lake Pontchartrain beach at Fontainebleau State Park near Mandeville was just behind with 11 unsafe days.