Published: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 4:45 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 4:45 p.m.

Since 2008, North Carolina has had some of the cleanest beaches in the nation and 2012 is no exception.

A report released Wednesday by the Natural Resource Defense Council detailed the environmental health of thousands of vacation beaches nationally and rated them depending on how safe they were for swimmers.

Rated third in the nation, out of 30 states, North Carolina's monitored beach samples exceeded national standards in 2012 only 2 percent of the time, according to the report, "Testing the Waters."

The nation's worst state in the report, Ohio, had samples that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency's standards 21 percent of the time, according to Jon Devine, the NRDC's senior water attorney, in a conference call.

In North Carolina, elevated bacteria levels on beaches led to beach closings or advisories for 91 days in 2012, down from 126 days in 2011, according to the report.

Beaches in the Wilmington region ranked highly, with only five beaches closing or having advisory days because of unsafe swimming water in Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick counties combined last year.

Erin Bryan-Millush, an environmental specialist with the N.C. Department of Natural Resources who monitors beaches, attributed the clean water to proactive local governments and lower rain amounts than usual in 2012.

There is no discharge of storm water runoff on a beach into the ocean in Pender, New Hanover or Brunswick counties, another reason water remains highly rated for swimming, Bryan-Millush said.

Storm water runoff and sewer overflow are two of the top contaminators of beach water nationwide, Devine said.

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N.C. beaches rank third in nation in report