Russ Zimmer

@RussZimmer

UPDATE:Ideal Beach in Middletown was closed today because an unsafe amount of enterococcus was measured in the coastal water.

EARLIER: Access to the main beach on Sandy Hook resumed this morning after water samples showed levels of a potentially harmful bacteria have subsided.

The beach near Lot D was closed Wednesday in response to water testing that showed high levels of enterococcus, a bacteria that is a possible harbinger of dangerous pathogens and a telltale sign of fecal contamination.

Today, a National Park Service spokeswoman told the Asbury Park Press this morning that the sample taken on Tuesday was measured at 24,196 count/100mL. That's 232 times the U.S. federal standard for water quality at public saltwater beaches, which is 104/100mL.

Closures of oceanside beaches are relatively rare on Sandy Hook, according to Daphne Yun, a spokeswoman for the park service's Gateway National Recreation Area.

"We closed the beach once last year and this is the first time we've closed it this year," she told the Press in an email.

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New York City effect

Just as researchers have noted for inland bodies of water, these kinds of contaminants tend to spike after rainfall. There were 28 advisories issued for beaches up and down the Jersey Shore on Wednesday, according to NJbeaches.org.

Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, said that even a short period of heavy rain in New York City can spell trouble the next day for Jersey Shore beaches.

The big city had about a half an inch of rain overnight Tuesday, according to data from the National Weather Service.

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New York has a combined sewer system, which means that the sanitary and stormwater sewers are all connected and all water goes through a treatment plant.

The downside — and why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers them "a priority water pollution concern" — is that when a treatment plant is overwhelmed, such as during heavy rain, then human waste can pour out into the environment without being first treated.

"With a quarter of an inch or even a tenth of an inch, their whole system goes into overflow," she said. "So there's no treatment at all."

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"When that plume comes out, it goes out into the ocean, then on to Sandy Hook, then hugs along the Jersey Shore — more so than the Long Island coastline," Zipf continued. "Yuck."

Safeguards

Testing of enterococcus is done every Monday at public beaches during the summer season.

If a sample comes back — they take roughly 24 hours to provide data — that shows bacteria levels above what is permissible then the state issues an advisory for Tuesday and also performs a follow-up test.

Should that second test again be higher than what is acceptable, the beach would be closed on Wednesday and re-tested every day until the bacteria count returns to a safe level.

Sandy Hook's beaches are under federal control, however, and Yun said there is no advisory designation: A single high test prompts a closure.

Routine testing was delayed until Tuesday this week because Monday was a federal holiday.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com