By:  Serach Nissim

A shocking new report may make you reconsider a dip in the beach.

A report by Environment America has found that of the 344 beaches tested in New York State in 2022, 57 percent of the beaches had at least one day where “fecal contamination” reached potentially unsafe levels. The Empire State beach contamination stems from human and animal fecal waste dumped into the ocean from sewage overflows, factory farms and industrial livestock operations, the environmental organization noted.  The study revealed that the majority of NY’s beaches exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s guideline for beach advisories and closures.

As per the NY Post, notwithstanding, the beaches remained open.  In 2022, only one public beach in NYC was closed due to bad water quality, as per data from NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is responsible for testing the waters and issuing advisories.  The closed beach was Wolfe’s Pond Park on Staten Island.  It was shuttered for six days due to the water being unsafe for humans to swim in.

For another 43 days, warnings were issued at the beach for “Enterococci Exceedance”, meaning unsafe levels of bacteria indicating the presence of human fecal material in the sea waters.  Warnings were also issued at Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn –but no closures.   Their warnings were displayed for 20 days, noting that bacteria levels were too high.  Similarly, Orchard Beach in The Bronx displayed issued for nine days.  Also at Midland Beach and Cedar Grove Beach, both on Staten Island, there were warnings for two days.  Per the Post, there were no warnings issued for Coney Island beach in Brooklyn, Rockaway Beach in Queens or South Beach on Staten Island, throughout 2022.

As for NYS, Environment America’s report revealed that Lake Erie’s Ontario Beach in Monroe County couldn’t pass the EPA’s standards on 30 tested days. Upstate in Tanner Park, which is part of Suffolk County, had 24 days in which the environmental organization found it unsafe.  Woodlawn Beach State Park in Erie County had 23 days where it couldn’t meet benchmark standards. Olcott Beach in Niagara County had 15 days of unclean waters in 2022, per the report. The Olcott beach was closed on July 5th, until further notice, after further testing by county health officials showed the water was “not suitable for swimming because of unsatisfactory bacteriological water quality.”

If it’s any consolation, New York’s beaches were not the only ones ragged on in the report.  The Environment America study found that overall, 55% of over 3,100 beaches across the country had at least one day in 2022 in which “fecal contamination” reached potentially unsafe levels.  The Gulf of Mexico region, which stretches from East Texas to Florida, fared the worst, with 84% of tested shorelines failing to meet benchmarks for cleanliness.  In the West Coast 70% of the beaches were unclean, and in the Great Lakes region 63% of beaches were unclean.

Swimming in water contaminated by sewage may cause “respiratory disease, ear and eye infection, and skin rash,” warned Environment America.