(Alki Beach, photographed this week by James Bratsanos)

The state Ecology Department has published its BEACH report for last summer’s swimming season – and all the local beaches where water quality was tested had a perfect summer, except one (you can probably guess which one). The Beach Environmental Assessment, Communication and Health program does regular bacterial testing at 59 beaches around Puget Sound and the ocean coast. Overall, the new report says 2022 was much better than 2021, when the late June/early July heat wave factored into many advisories and closures. This past summer, not so much. But let’s get to the local results. King County’s beach scorecard is here; testing was done regularly at Alki Beach Park, Lincoln Park, and Richey Viewpoint (Constellation Park). The first two “had excellent water quality and met swimming standards during all periods sampled,” according to the report. The third “had good water quality, meeting swimming standards during all periods sampled,” but, the report adds, “This beach was preemptively closed due to a sewage spill from a nearby condominium complex between July 5 and July 25.” (Here’s our initial coverage of that situation; the closure lasted four weeks at Cormorant Cove, which is outside the testing area.) The report says this year’s testing will start the week of May 22, and they’ll be updating their map weekly between Memorial Day and Labor Day.