Newport beaches shine in rankings

Newport Beach had two five-star beaches in 2008, the highest ranking the Natural Resources Defense Council gives, according to its annual report released Wednesday.

The two beaches in the city that were most popular, by the Newport and Balboa piers, both proved to have consistently low bacterial pollution, responded to pollution dangers quickly and tested their water frequently enough to earn the nonprofit organization’s highest marks.

For at least the last three years, both beaches — which hundreds of thousands of visitors frequent a year — were within health standards nearly 100% of the time and posted advisories when their beaches were closed. Orange County closed its beaches nine times in 2008 because of rain.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit environmental group with more than 1.2 million members according to its website.

As past years’ reports have shown, Newport Beach consistently has below-average pollution when compared to the state and most of its beach and water advisories are inside the harbor.

Last year, Orange County beaches exceeded bacterial levels 9% of the time.

The mouth of the Santa Ana River exceeded bacteria levels 31% of the times it was tested last year, according to the report. Water was sampled there 65 times in 2008.

The water in the Newport Bay below the Newport Boulevard bridge exceeded bacteria levels 30% of the time and was sampled 40 times last year.

Water at the Newport Pier did not exceed bacteria levels once in its 188 samplings in 2008, according to the report.