With a string of days at nearly 40 degrees forecast for the long weekend, it may be autumn, but summer just won't go away. EPA's Beach Report is still providing water quality advice and the weekend will continue the recent spell of Good water conditions.
An analysis of the 2023-2024 Beach Report for summer shows the first two months of the season ensured many beaches did not get a gold star rating with none of the City beaches breaking into the top ten.
The following are our best performing beaches with the highest number of Good water quality forecasts this summer – Portsea, Santa Casa, Mt Martha, Safety Beach, Eastern, Portarlington, St Leonards, The Dell, Blairgowrie, Dromana, Rosebud, Rye and Sorrento.
"It's not until Back Rock and Sandringham at equal 14th do we see City beaches mentioned. That's because they suffered the most from the heavy rain events, and then algal bloom outbreaks at multiple locations in January and early February," EPA Chief Environmental Scientist, Professor Mark Taylor said.
"Our most affected beaches were Sandridge and Port Melbourne;, only getting Good water quality for 45 per cent of the summer.
"Summer may be over but swimming and taking our pets to the beach will be popular all year round, so Beach Report will continue to provide updates on water quality throughout the year."
