Environment America ranks the City of Myrtle Beach as having the most unsafe swimming days in S.C. for 2021. The report was just published this past week. The city of Myrtle Beach is consistently rated as the dirtiest S.C. bacteria beach.
Environment America’s vision statement reads “A clean environment is not a by-product of American prosperity. Rather, a clean environment is the necessary precondition for true prosperity. Through our research and public education, we’re working to shift more hearts and minds over to this point of view.”
The City of Myrtle Beach has consistently made the list of S.C’s dirtiest beaches for the past several years.
Old, collapsing, and decaying pipes beneath the city streets, city-wide, are central reasons Myrtle Beach maintains its top position on these ratings.
Former Myrtle Beach City Manager, John Pedersen, encouraged his staff to work with the Department of Health and Environmental Control, to change the number reporting to five year averages so that tourists would not be able to monitor the high weekly numbers.
The City of Myrtle Beach has been working with the state to get tax funded outfall monies to push the bacteria filled runoff farther out into the ocean.
When I-73 funding failed at the state level last Spring, S.C. Representative Case Brittain asked the state for $30 million in outfall funding as a compromise. That request was granted.
Fixing the underlying city pipes will likely cost hundreds of millions.
Until the underlying issue is corrected, or the outfalls are completely in place, Myrtle Beach will continue to rate as S.C.’s dirtiest beach.