By Spencer Hunt

The Columbus Dispatch Monday July 1, 2013 2:44 PM

A new water quality survey ranks Lake Erie's beaches last in the nation.

The Natural Resources Defense Councils annual report has never been good news for the 61 public beaches along Erie. Last year, the council ranked those beaches 29th of 30 for ranked states in 2011. The beaches along Erie ranked 30th in 2012.

The group bases its rankings on routine water tests that found concentrations of E. coli bacteria that can cause illness and death.

Unhealthy concentrations of the bacteria were detected in 21 percent of water tests conducted last year in Ohio, the report found. Thats a slight decrease from 2011, when bacteria were found in 22 percent of the tests.

The worst state in 2011 was Louisiana, where bacteria were detected in 29 percent of the samples. For 2012, it ranked 16th.

Second-worst in this years report was Wisconsin, with a 14 percent failure rate for 116 public beaches.

The high bacteria counts typically come from raw and partially treated sewage that rains wash into lakes and nearby streams.

@CDEnvironment

Read the original:

Group ranks Lake Erie beaches worst in nation for water quality