East Coast States: Beaches Open for Bathing

When the public in NJ went to the beach in 2006 and 2007, they found the beach was open for bathing 99.6 percent of the time. As the figure shows, NJ has among the highest percentage of beaches open on the East Coast.

Data Source: NRDC Testing the Waters, A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Editions

2008 NJ Beach Closings Data

Closures at New Jersey's ocean beaches due to exccedances of the water quality standard have been down since the early 1990's. In 2008, only one (1) ocean beach closing was due to a water quality exceedance. The overall number of closures is up due to precautionary closures since 2000. These precautionary closures, which occur after rainfall, provide an enhanced level of public health protection that has been implemented by county and local health officials with the support of DEP. Even with the precautionary and floatable-related closures, New Jersey ocean beaches are open to bathing over 99.7% of the time.

There were 14% fewer bay beach closings, in 2008, due to water quality exceedances than in 2007.

View the Program Summary Report for 2006 and 2007 (PDF)

• Appendix 1 (PDF)
• Appendix 2 (PDF)
• Appendix 3 (PDF)

View the 2009 Quality Assurance Project Plan (PDF)

COMING SOON: The NJ Program Summary Report for 2007/2008!