NJ beach water quality drops

New Jersey is ranked seventh in the nation for swimming-beach water quality, according to last month’s report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. This is three spots lower than the previous year.

Press of Atlantic City reports that this ranking considers “thousands of test results from coastal swimming beaches in 30 states, along with how frequently towns check the water for fecal coliform bacteria and the number of beach closings.”

New Jersey beaches are only closed if two water tests in a row fail to meet the standards about bacteria growth. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently altered these standards, allowing up to 126 colonies of E. coli per sample, up from the previous 104 colonies. 

However, there have been no beach closings in South Jersey this year.