CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
Corpus Christi beaches attract millions of visitors each year, but the folks who keep track of those statistics are concerned about a recent report regarding the water quality of our beaches.
The Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau said that report is skewed and factually incorrect.
Each year, the Natural Resources Defense Council releases its guide of water quality at vacation beaches. This year, Corpus Christi's 43 area beaches scored lower than in years past, and the Bureau blames that on the areas that were tested.
"The challenge with the reports that came out, and the negative report on Nueces County, have to do with three parks that are not beaches," Bureau CEO Keith Arnold said.
The three areas that were given low scores due to unsafe levels of bacteria include Poenisch Park, Ropes Park and Cole Park, areas that most in the Coastal Bend do not consider to be beaches. The report indicates that these three areas were closed 112 days out of the year because of high bacteria.
One contributing factor to the high levels is that each one of the parks have drainage outlets where run-off water from all over town ends up in the bay. Arnold said those findings bring down the overall score, and the report couldn't come out at a worse time.
A major concern for the Bureau is that the report from the Natural Resources Defense Council has already been widely published in San Antonio, Houston and U.S.A. Today.
So for now the Bureau will be working overtime to get the word out that Corpus Christi beaches are clean, beautiful, safe and open for business.
