New York has been ranked seventh worst in the nation for its beach water quality, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) 20th annual Testing the Waters beach water quality report.

Some of New York’s favorite beaches have not received more than 3 stars in the ratings due to pollution. They all failed to issue advisories promptly after being tested for their health. Beaches like Orchard Beach in the Bronx, Coney Island Beach and Rockaway Beach in Queens received the lowest rating of only one star. Causes of the beach water contamination include storm water runoff and sewage overflow.

There were 1,955 closing and advisory days in the New York/ New Jersey region in 2009 and 18,682 nationwide, according to NRDC’s report.

“New York and New Jersey are home to some of the country’s most popular beaches, but each summer they continue to be plagued with bouts of sewage and storm water pollution,” said Sarah Chasis, director of NRDC’s Oceans Initiative. “We need to stop using the ocean as our dumping ground and prevent this type of pollution from reaching our shores and risking our health.”

The report by NRDC confirms that last summer, our nation’s beach water continued to suffer from serious contamination that can make people sick – including human and animal waste.

This year America’s Gulf beaches are faced with the additional challenges involving the oil disaster, which has already led to 2,239 days of beach closing, advisories, and notices in the Gulf region as of July 27.

New to Testing the Waters this year is a special Gulf states section dedicated to oil-related beach closures, advisories, and notices as a result of the tragic Deepwater Horizon accident in April.

Beach water pollution makes swimmers vulnerable to a range of waterborne illnesses including stomach flu, skin rashes, pinkeye, ear, nose and throat problems, dysentery, hepatitis, respiratory ailments, neurologi