Beach Closings for the Weekend of July 22

Every week from May to Labor Day, the Ocean County Health Department travels to each salt- and fresh-water location in our fair county to test them for the bacteria enterococcus and fecal coliform. 

Enterococcus is highly resistant to antibiotics, which makes it difficult to fight and thusly more dangerous for humans.

Exposure to too much fecal coliform may lead to dysentery or typhoid fever.

The health department measures how safe the water is to swim in by measuring the number of bacterial colonies in 100 milliliters of water taken from each swimming location in Ocean County.

If there are more than 104 colonies of enterococcus per 100 milliliters of salt water, a beach may be closed and then tested again every day until the water is well within the standard.

Similarly, more than 200 colonies of fecal coliform per 100 milliliters of fresh water warrant a beach closing. Again, the water would be tested daily until the levels are deemed safe.

This weekend, the following beaches are closed because of bacteria:

• Deer Head Lake, Upper and Lower Beaches in Lacey Township (Upper: 1130 colonies of fecal coliform per 100 milliliters of water)
• Sea Meadow Lane beach in Little Egg Harbor (730 colonies of fecal coliform per 100 milliliters of water)

The other beaches surveyed and deemed safe for swimming by the Ocean County Health Department this week are:

• Miami Drive, Little Egg Harbor
• Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor
• N. Spinnaker, Little Egg Harbor
• Willis Creek, Little Egg Harbor
• Holly Lake, Little Egg Harbor

Come back next Friday and all summer for an update to beach closings in Ocean County.