Community Magazine August 2006

 ”  S harks aren’t the only reason to be afraid of going in the water. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), some Jersey Shore beaches are among the most polluted. The Deal Casino Beach and the Cedar Avenue Beach in Allenhurst, were among 10 beaches cited in a recent report by the Wall Street Journal as having exceed- ed EPA thresholds for bacteria counts on multiple occasions. The problem can be virtually invisible to the naked eye as even clear blue waters may hide bacteria that can cause infections and even lead to fatal complications. The Journal reported that a swimmer died earlier this year after bathing in a polluted beach in Hawaii. According to the EPA, the leading causes of beach pollution include: storm water runoff, sewer overflows, sewage bypass, beachgoers and boaters. Chief among these factors is storm water runoff. When rain falls, it transports loose material from the ground and other surfaces into the storm water system. This material includes pol- lutants such as street litter, dog droppings, cigarette butts, leaf litter, oil and silt. This storm water is usually piped from street gut- ters and houses into local creeks which then feed into rivers and the ocean. In coastal cit- ies, storm water is commonly piped directly to the beach. Beaches near large urban cen- ters are often unsuitable for swimming after heavy rain because of widespread storm water pollution. At the Jersey shore, all of the factors mentioned play a part in polluting beaches. Among the more disconcerting occurrences was a recent sewage bypass. An estimated 36,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Poplar Brook and out to sea near the Deal Casino Beach on May 10th. The acci- dent was the result of a defective 40 year old valve which failed to close properly while workers were preparing to replace parts on one of three main pumps that route waste into the Ocean Township Sewerage Authority’s (OTSA) main pumping station. Bathing was prohibited at area beaches for a week. Even several days after the beaches were reopened, and some surfers said they got sick from the water. After the spill, levels of fecal enterococci bacteria in the beach water tested off the charts, measur- ing at 27,000 enterococci per 100 milliliters of water – almost 260 times the Health Department limit for safe swimming of 104 per 100 milliliters of water. After receiving a violation from the state Department of Environmental Protection for the incident, the OTSA promised to upgrade its 40 year old infrastructure with about $700,000 in capital improvements to try to avoid fines and other enforcement action. An entirely different phenomenon at Allenhurst area beaches produced similar results last season. Swimming was banned at Cedar Avenue Ocean Beach in Allenhurst for several days in mid July 2005 after levels of fecal bacteria in the water tested at between 150 and 1,840 per 100 millili- ters of water over the preceding days. The cause of that contamination was marine life. When hundreds of thousands of mus- sels washed into the beach and became trapped in the jetty, seagulls from all around began a feeding frenzy. Droppings from the increased population of gulls and bacteria from decomposing mussels, combined for a toxic combination. Public works officials estimated that they removed some 15 tons of the mussels before the situation was alleviated. But problems at these area beaches are not limited to these isolated incidents. According to the Journal report, the Deal Casino Beach tested for bacteria counts that exceeded EPA standards 6 percent of the time over the past 18 months and the Cedar Avenue beach exceeded standards a whop- ping 41 percent of the time. Still, not all shore beaches are consistent- ly polluted, according to the Journal article, the nearby beaches of Long Branch and Loch Arbor Village are generally clean. CM albert sutton 60 Community Magazine