New Jersey officials closed the ocean to swimmers on nearly a dozen beaches in Atlantic City and Ventnor on Wednesday, along with several other back bay and river beaches in Ocean County.
Elevated bacteria levels caused the state Department of Environmental Protection to close three beaches and issue dozens of water quality advisories for others on Tuesday.
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Some other beaches in Atlantic City and Margate are also temporarily closed for beach replenishment, Hajna said.
The closures and advisories follow several rounds of heavy rain this week that caused pollution runoff into drainage that leads to ocean and bay outfalls, DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said.
"This is a little unusual where we've gotten so much heavy rain," Hajna said. "It's been a wet summer, and the testing we're doing is picking up bacteria that's carried typically from animal waste such as gulls and geese."
Overall, closures grew from three on Tuesday to nine on Wednesday, and then to 15 Wednesday afternoon, including 11 in Ventnor and Atlantic City combined.
The DEP issues an advisory when water samples – usually collected by county or local officials and sent to a lab for testing – exceed standard levels for enterococci, a bacteria found in human and animal waste.
But the department closes beaches if two consecutive samples collected at the same beach exceed 104 colonies of Enterococci per 100 millimeters, Hajna said.
The DEP keeps a running tab of testing results and any advisories or closings at www.njbeaches.org.
The following beaches remain closed:
ATLANTIC COUNTY
Atlantic City
Beach (Ocean): Bartram Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Georgia Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Annapolis Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Missouri Avenue
Beach (Ocean): North Carolina Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Pennsylvania Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Montgomery Avenue
Somers Point City
Beach (Bay): New Jersey Avenue
Ventnor City
Beach (Ocean): Austin Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Dorset Avenue
Beach (Ocean): New Haven Avenue
Beach (Ocean): Washington Avenue
OCEAN COUNTY
Beachwood Borough
Beach (River): Beachwood Beach West
Pine Beach Borough
Beach (River): West Beach, Avon Road
Stafford Township
Beach (Bay): Jennifer Lane
The following beaches are under advisory:
Monmouth County
Sea Girt Borough
Beach (Ocean): The Terrace
Beach (Ocean): Beacon Boulevard
Ocean County
Barnegat Light Borough
Beach (Bay): 25th Street bayfront
Long Beach Township
Beach (Bay): New Jersey Avenue
Point Pleasant Beach Borough
Beach (Ocean): Maryland Avenue