The Department of Environmental Protection administers the New Jersey Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program. From mid-May to mid-September, local health departments monitor recreational beach water quality. On this web site, you will find daily activity reports for closings, advisories and results of any test that exceeded the federal bacteria standard, regardless of whether the beach was closed or an advisory was issued. You will also find reports of DEP aerial monitoring flights, which look for any conditions that may affect bathing water quality such as trash and debris, algal blooms or sewer line problems.

Beach Closings: Local health departments routinely measure enterococcus bacteria to determine if beaches should be closed. Beaches are closed if an initial sample and a follow-up sample exceed the standard of 104 enterococci per 100 milliliters of water. Beaches may also be closed due to wash-ups of debris, trash or household medical products. A few beaches, most notably those flanking Monmouth County’s Wreck Pond, are subject to precautionary closures due to rainfall amounts that result in stormwater discharges that may contain excessive levels of bacteria.

Advisories: Monmouth and Ocean counties issue advisories when the first water sample exceeds the enterococci standard. An advisory is not a beach closing but is a notification to the public that a water sample collected at a particular beach did not meet the water quality standard.  These beaches are only closed if the follow-up sample exceeds the standard again.