State Closes Monmouth County Beach Due To High Levels Of Human Fecal Bacteria

LONG BRANCH, NJ — The New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection just closed Elberon Beach Club in Long Branch Wednesday afternoon, due to high levels of fecal bacteria found in the ocean water.

Elberon Beach Club is a private, members-only beach club.

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Ocean water there tested high on Monday and Tuesday for enterococci bacteria, which comes from human and animal sewage.

Beaches are placed under a swimming advisory when the concentration of enterococci bacteria exceeds 104 colonies per 100 milliliters of water.

Elberon Beach Club tested at 417 colonies on Monday, the day the state first tested the water. On Wednesday, it had dropped to 215 colonies, but the state still decided to close the beach.

The state placed two more beaches under an advisory, but allowed them to remain open. They are:

• The beach at Shrewsbury River Yacht Club in Fair Haven. The count was 1,300 on Tuesday.
• Memorial Park beach in Neptune Twp. The count there was 530 parts per 100 milliliters of water.

It is not immediately known why the state allowed those two beaches to remain open, but closed Elberon Beach Club.

And in Ocean County, the state just closed the Maxson Avenue beach on the Manasquan River in Point Pleasant Wednesday, as well. It had a count of 170 colonies this week.

The state announces beach advisories and closures here: njbeaches.org/beach-actions and it announces water quality data on this map: njbeaches.org/ A beach on that map in "red" is a beach that is closed.

Sources of enterococci in water include stormwater runoff, sewage discharged or dumped from recreational boats and domestic animal and wildlife waste. Swimming in polluted water can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, runny nose, earaches skin rashes and flu-like symptoms.

These nine beaches in Atlantic City were placed under an advisory Tuesday, but they remain open. Also, the advisory was lifted on Wednesday:

States Avenue (320 colonies)
Virginia Avenue (235)
Pennsylvania Avenue (265)
North Carolina Avenue (185)
South Carolina Avenue (180)
Missouri Avenue (140)
Mississippi Avenue (200)
Texas Avenue (125)
Iowa Avenue (110)