13 Monmouth beaches closed after trash washes ashore

Susanne Cervenka | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw sewage on Shore beaches: How does it happen? What Clean Ocean Action''s new data tells us about the raw sewage New York and north Jersey are sending to the Shore.

FRIDAY A.M. UPDATE: All Monmouth County beaches are open today. Officials tell the Asbury Park Press what happened and where all these syringes came from.

Beaches from Long Branch to Loch Arbour were closed starting late Thursday afternoon after trash flushed from antiquated sewer systems by Tuesday's storms washed ashore.

In all, 13 beaches in four towns are closed for "floatables washup," essentially that trash that makes its way into combined sewer systems somewhere north of the Jersey Shore, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said.

The closed beaches are:

Allenhurst: Cedar Avenue

Cedar Avenue Deal: Philips Avenue, Hathaway Avenue, Deal Casino,

Philips Avenue, Hathaway Avenue, Deal Casino, Loch Arbour: Village Beach Club

Village Beach Club Long Branch: Elberon Beach Club, North Bath Avenue, South Bath Avenue, Joline Avenue, Laird Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, Ocean Beach Club, Imperial House

Combined sewer systems collected stormwater runoff into the same system as sanitary sewage. Problems can occur, however, during heavy rains like those Tuesday, when the storm runoff exceeds the system's treatment capacity and both sewage and stormwater runoff make its way into waterways.

That can include any debris that had been flushed down the toilet or swept off the streets by the rainwater. For more on how that affects the Shore, watch the video at the top of the page.

More: Jersey Shore beaches: This is why fecal bacteria sometimes takes over

Combined sewer systems are no longer used in more modern construction, but some towns still maintain their old systems. New Jersey requires combined sewer systems to have netting on their outflow points to collect the trash that may be caught up in the system, Hajna said.

Bacteria from human waste is less of a concern because its concentration would have dissipated in the vast waters of the Raritan Bay and Atlantic Ocean, he said.

It's not clear where the trash originated, but Tuesday's storms plus the ocean currents are why it ended up on our beaches, Hajna said.

More: Jersey Shore beaches: All bacteria closures lifted

The currents would typically take debris from overflow events to the north and east. This time, the currents dropped the debris on our beaches.

Municipal crews worked quickly to clear the trash using beachcombers, Hajna said. The DEP's Emergency Response Team was surveying the debris Thursday evening and will continue monitoring it tomorrow from both the air and land.

More: Where at the Shore is this?

Susanne Cervenka: @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com