5 Jersey Shore beaches under swimming advisory due to bacteria
Photo: Justin Auciello/for NewsWorks
Five beaches in one Jersey Shore county are under swimming advisories.
According to the state Department of Environmental Protection’s njbeaches.org, the advisory covers five ocean beaches in Monmouth County due to water samples exceeding a water quality standard.
The standard for the acceptable level of enterococcus, a bacteria found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals that can cause urinary tract infections, bacteremia, bacterial endocarditis, diverticulitis, and meningitis, is 104 colonies per 100 ml of water.
The swimming advisories are at the following beaches: Broadway and Spray Avenue in Neptune, the public beach in Sea Bright, and Brown and York avenues in Spring Lake.
None of the beaches are closed. All bacteria levels were above the maximum bacteria standard when tested Tuesday morning.
The state tests water quality at 35 bay and 180 ocean locations and issues advisories one day following an unacceptable bacteria level. Beaches are closed if two consecutive samples collected at a bathing beach exceed the state standard and remain in effect until subsequent sampling indicates bacteria levels are again below the standard, according to the DEP.
The closure applies to water activities like swimming, wading, and playing in the water.
Some waterways are typically susceptible to higher bacteria levels after rainfall and associated storm runoff.
Onshore flow, which has occurred in recent days, also pushes in offshore water and keeps near-shore water from flowing adequately out to sea.
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