Hampton Beach a Five-Star Beach for Third Year in a Row

Hampton Beach has once again been rated a "five star" beach by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the third time in the last three years that the honor has been bestowed on the state beach.

Hampton Beach was also again named a "superstar" beach, along with Wallis Sands Beach in Rye, for its cleanliness and lack of bacteria problems.

Hampton Beach and Wallis Sands are two of only 13 beaches to earn a five-star rating this year out of the 200 most popular beaches surveyed by the NRDC's 23rd annual beachwater quality report. New Hampshire also ranks second — behind Delaware — among the 30 states involved in the Environmental Protection Agency's beach monitoring program.

"New Hampshire residents can be proud of our coastal water quality and strive to maintain these levels," wrote Jim Martin, spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, in a release about the award. "Everyone can take simple steps to prevent beach pollution in all locations. Picking up pet waste, maintaining septic systems, putting swim diapers with plastic covers on babies and keeping trash off the beach can help keep our waters clean. Collaboratively we can keep New Hampshire beaches five-star."

To review the NRDC report, visit: http://m1e.net/c?138786603-xF4VwgtPk2qvc%4024485028-PmMk5Ym49oZ0%2e