BEACHES throughout Newcastle and Lake Macquarie have come up sparkling with pristine conditions at all but two of the most popular spots for a dip.
In the latest State of the Beaches report, three city beaches were upgraded from the previous 12 months from 'good' to 'very good', bucking a statewide trend of general decline in water quality due to extended periods of wet weather and flooding events.
Glenrock Lagoon, Burwood South, and Merewether Beaches were all upgraded from 'good' to 'very good'.
In Port Stephens, four out of the five beaches actively monitored retained their top ranking - Zenith, Box and One Mile Beaches, while Fingal Beach dropped from a rating of 'very good' to 'good'.
In Newcastle, the only beach to record a drop in water quality compared to the previous year was South Stockton Beach.
Overall, all 17 beaches which Hunter Water monitors for water quality were graded 'good' or 'very good' meaning they are suitable for swimming for most, or almost all of the time.
Central Coast beaches did not fare as well, including the very popular Terrigal Beach which was rated 'poor', along with Toowoon Bay. They were deemed 'mostly suitable for swimming' in dry weather conditions, but with elevated enterococci levels occasionally recorded following little or not rain, and often after light rain.
Throughout NSW, 80 per cent of monitored beaches achieved the top two ratings, a decline in performance on previous years, a reflection of the extended wet weather conditions, including the fact last year was the wettest summer in NSW since 2012, and significant flooding events.
Rainfall is the major driver of pollution of recreational waters, generating stormwater runoff and triggering untreated discharges from wastewater treatment ad transport systems.
November 2021 was one of the wettest months on record, the report says, with more than two to three times the long-term monthly average rainfall in the Hunter and Central Coast, as well as the Sydney, Illawarra and South Coast regions.
In March, all regions recorded from two to more than four times the long-term monthly average rainfall.
Consecutive days of significantly heavy rainfall in late February and during March 2022, and again in April, led to extreme wet weather pollution alerts in the Hunter, with lifeguards reporting significant debris and discolouration impacting beaches as floodwaters discharged to the ocean.
Daily pollution forecasts reporting on the likelihood of bacterial contamination were found to be 97 per cent accurate in the Hunter.
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