The Environmental Protection Ministry's "Clean Beach" index for August 1st shows that 61.54% of the beaches measured were rated "clean" to "very clean," compared with 65.15% in the previous index. In the same period last year, 74.24% of the beaches were found to be very clean.
The index's cleanest coastal authorities are: Eilat, Ashdod, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Jisr Az-Zarqa, Gan Raveh, Bat Yam, Netanya and Akko. While it is the responsibility of the local authorities to clean up the beaches being inspected, the ministry provided support amounting to more than 9.3 million shekels, the largest support provided so far.