Lake County has the state's dirtiest beaches, according to an annual beachwater quality report released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
However, the state's beaches have gotten cleaner over the past three years.
The 20th annual report, "Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches," showed that Jeorse Park Beach in East Chicago had the highest exceedance of the state's maximum bacterial standards, followed by Buffington Harbor Beach, also in Lake County, and Washington Park Beach in LaPorte County.
Lake County had an exceedance rate of 16 percent, LaPorte had a 9 percent rate and Porter County had the lowest rate of 8 percent.
Indiana was ranked 25th in beach water quality in the nation out of the 30 coastal and Great Lakes states, the report said.
Although the state reported 28 beaches along the Great Lakes, the council monitors a consistent group of 23 beaches to compare exceedance rates.
For that set of beaches, the exceedance rate dropped to 8 percent last year from 13 percent in 2008 and 15 percent in 2007. For all 28 beaches, the exceedance rate of the samples was 13 percent.
