65 New Jersey Beaches Identified For Bacteria, Pollution In Recent Study

It's been a busy season at the Jersey Shore and at other New Jersey beaches. But it's also been a season with a number of closures, too.

Ocean County has been particularly impacted by beach closures. Four Ocean County beaches were closed to swimming Friday afternoon after another round of water quality testing showed bacteria levels remained at unsafe levels, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

While a lot of work has been done at these beaches in recent years, Ocean County had the top five beaches for bacterial contamination in 2013 testing conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In that study, the NRDC rated New Jersey third out of 30 states for beach water quality, based on water testing, just as more beaches have reported high levels of bacteria and other pollutive materials.

The NRDC put together a list of beaches and their percentage of water samples that, in the most recent analysis, tested high for bacteria.

According to the NRDC's report:

NRDC’s annual analysis of water quality data at 3,485 coastal U.S. beaches monitored in 2013 found that 10 percent of all monitoring samples exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s most protective benchmark for assessing swimmer safety, known as the Beach Action Value, or BAV.

Patch put together the list of the 65 beaches that rated highest in bacterial contamination (see the list below).

Bacterial contamination usually is caused by stormwater runoff and sewage overflows, and recent rains were believed to be the cause of the beach closures.

The maximum allowable level of enterococci, the bacteria tested for in saltwater, is 104 colonies per 100 milliliters of water. The maximum allowable level of fecal coliform is 200 colonies per 100 ml.

Swimming in water with high bacteria counts can lead to stomach flu, skin rashes, pink eye, respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis.

Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said a lot of work has gone into improving beaches in areas such as Beachwood in recent years, and the state has the best monitoring program in the country.

"Beaches have been open 99 percent of the time this season," he said. "Even if you're working with closings, we monitor 200-plus beaches. Those closures were at 10th percent of the total."

Here are the beaches with the highest level of bacterial samplings, ordered by the largest percentage of bacteria-contaminated samples, in 2013.

Each entry on the list includes, in this order, the county, beach name, total samples and percentage of samples exceeding BAV.

1. Ocean, East Beachwood Beach West (Beachwood Boro) (bracket beach) 11 91%
2. Ocean, West Beachwood Beach West (Beachwood Boro)(bracket beach) 11 55%
3. Ocean, Beachwood Beach (Beachwood) 31 52%
4. (tie) Ocean, East Avon Rd (Pine Beach Boro) (bracket beach) 2 50%
5. (tie) Ocean, West Avon Rd (Pine Beach Boro) (bracket beach) 2 50%
6. Atlantic, Higbee Ave (Somers Point City) (bracket beach) 3 33%
7. Monmouth Shark River Beach & Yacht Club (Neptune Twp) 20 20%
8. Ocean Avon Road in Pine Beach (Pine Beach) 22 18%
9. Ocean Windward Beach (Brick) 24 17%
10. (tie) Atlantic New Jersey Ave. (Somers Point) 21 14%
11. (tie) Cape May 2nd & JFK (North Wildwood) 14 14%
12. (tie) Ocean 25th St (Barnegat Light Boro - bay) 21 14%
13. (tie) Cape May 10th & JFK (North Wildwood) 19 11%
14. (tie) Cape May Maple (Wildwood) 19 11%
15. (tie) Cape May Surf (Ocean City) 19 11%
16. (tie) Cape May Schellenger (Wildwood) 20 10%
17. (tie) Ocean East Beach (Pine Beach) 21 10%
18. (tie)Ocean River Avenue (Pt Pleasant) 20 10%
19. (tie) cean Summit (Island Heights) 21 10%
20. (tie) Atlantic Michigan (Atlantic City) 22 9%
21. (tie) Atlantic Missouri (Atlantic City) 22 9%
22. (tie) Atlantic St. James (Atlantic City) 22 9%
23. (tie) Atlantic Austin Ave (Ventnor City) 18 6%
24. (tie) Atlantic Connecticut Ave (Atlantic City) 18 6%
25. (tie) Cape May 24th (North Wildwood) 18 6%
26. (tie) Cape May 108th (Stone Harbor) 16 6%
27. (tie) Cape May Beesley's Point (Upper Twp) 18 6%
28. (tie) Cape May Bennett (Wildwood) 18 6%
29. (tie) Cape May North (Ocean City) 18 6%
30. (tie) Cape May Park (Ocean City) 18 6%
31. (tie) Cape May Poverty (Cape May City) 18 6%
32. (tie) Monmouth Imperial House (LONG BRANCH CITY) 17 6%
33. (tie) Monmouth L Street Beach (Belmar) 18 6%
34. (tie) Monmouth Miller Beach (Highlands) 18 6%
35. (tie) Monmouth North Bath (Long Branch) 18 6%
36. (tie) Monmouth Ocean Park (Bradley Beach) 17 6%
37. (tie) Monmouth Rec Center (Highlands) 18 6%
38. (tie) Monmouth South Bath (Long Branch) 18 6%
39. (tie) Monmouth Thompson (Leonardo) 17 6%
40. (tie) Ocean 24th (Barnegat Light) 18 6%
41. (tie) Ocean Stockton (Brant Beach) 18 6%
42. (tie) Atlantic 26th St. South (Brigantine) 21 5%
43. (tie) Atlantic Caspian (Atlantic City) 21 5%
44. (tie) Atlantic Chelsea (Atlantic City) 20 5%
45. (tie) Atlantic Clermont Ave (Margate City) 21 5%
46. (tie) Atlantic Georgia (Atlantic City) 21 5%
47. (tie) Atlantic Gladstone Ave (Margate City) 19 5%
48. (tie) Atlantic Kentucky (Atlantic City) 22 5%
49. (tie) Atlantic Lincoln (Atlantic City) 22 5%
50. (tie) Atlantic North Carolina (Atlantic City) 21 5%
51. (tie) Atlantic Pennsylvania (Atlantic City) 21 5%
52. (tie) Atlantic South Carolina (Atlantic City) 19 5%
53. (tie) Atlantic States (Atlantic City) 21 5%
54. (tie) Atlantic Texas (Atlantic City) 22 5%
55. (tie) Cape May 18th (North Wildwood) 19 5%
56. (tie) Cape May Montgomery (Wildwood) 19 5%
57. (tie) Monmouth Worthington (Spring Lake) 19 5%
58. (tie) Ocean 5th (Seaside Park) 20 5%
59. (tie) Ocean Brooklyn Ave (Lavallette), bay 20 5%
60. (tie) Ocean Central (Pt Pleasant Beach) 19 5%
61. (tie) Ocean Maxon Avenue (Pt Pleasant) 20 5%
62. (tie) Ocean New Jersey Avenue, Beach Haven Terrace (Long Beach), bay 20 5%
63. (tie) Ocean Reese (Lavallette) 20 5%
64. (tie) Ocean Stockton (Beach Haven Crest) 19 5%
65. Atlantic Arkansas (Atlantic City) 24 4%

Read the full report by clicking here.