Two Jersey Shore beaches closed today due to bacteria
Sandy Hook. (Image: wikipedia.org)
Two Jersey Shore beaches are closed today due to bacterial levels exceeding a water quality standard.
Beach “D” in Sandy Hook remains closed for a second consecutive day after a water sample of the ocean water contained a high level of enterococcal bacteria yesterday, according to the National Park Service.
A spokesman said that the results from a second test will be ready this afternoon and the beach will reopen tomorrow if the results are favorable.
Elsewhere, Windward Beach along the Metedeconk River in Brick is closed due to a water sample exceeding a water quality standard, according to njbeaches.org.
A water sample taken at Windward Beach yesterday yielded a reading of 400.
According to the Ocean County Health Department, 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.
“If a sample exceeds the standard, the beach is re-sampled immediately. If the re-sample is within the standard the beach is allowed to remain open. If the re-sample exceeds the standard; the owners of the beach area are notified to close the beach to swimming and bathing. The beach will be re-sampled every day until the sample falls under the standard, then the bathing area may re-open,” according to the Ocean County Health Department’s water sampling page.
In 2014, NJ Spotlight ranked Windward Beach as one of the ten worst New Jersey beaches for water pollution.
Some inland waterways are typically susceptible to higher bacterial levels after rainfall and associated storm runoff, experts say.
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