Warnings issued against swimming at 12 beaches in Suffolk County

Suffolk County announced on Friday that a dozen beaches have been closed due to dangerous levels of bacteria in the water.

They include Benjamins Beach in Bay Shore, West Islip Beach in West Islip, Amityville Village Beach in Amityville, Tanner Park Beach in Copiague, Venetian Shores in Lindenhurst, Sound Beach POA East and West in Sound Beach and Broadway Beach, Friendship Drive Beach, Beech Road Beach, Terraces on the Sound and Tides Beach POA, all at Rocky Point.

Bathing in water contaminated with bacteria can cause gastrointestinal diseases and infections of the eyes, ears, nose and throat, said Suffolk Health Commissioner Gregson Pigott.

The beaches will reopen when tests reveal that the bacteria have subsided to acceptable levels.

On Thursday, swimming was not advised at 82 of the island’s beaches because what remained of the devastating storm called Ida could have polluted them by releasing fecal bacteria into the rainwater, officials said at the time.

And five days earlier, a total of 81 beaches were on that precautionary warning list, even after heavy rain.

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Ida also arranged for 24 New York City water treatment plants to discharge mixed sewage with rainwater starting at noon Thursday, her environmental protection agency said. This problem is a major cause of the low oxygen levels seen in western Long Island Sound, scientists say.

About 70% of Suffolk is sewer-free, and stormwater runoff – which occurs when the soil cannot absorb all the rainwater – carries effluents from cesspools and septic systems, pesticides, fertilizers, oil and debris. in the sewers, increasing the levels of bacteria. Animal waste can be another key source.

For the latest information on Suffolk’s affected beaches, call the beach hotline at 631-852-5822, contact the Department’s Ecology Office at 631-852-5760 during normal business hours, or visit the monitoring webpage Suffolk County Department of Health Services beaches.

In Nassau, for up-to-date recorded information on beach openings and closures, call 516-227-9700.

A state interactive map of beach closures and warnings is available at ny.healthinspections.us/ny_beaches/.

With Robert Brodsky

Joan Gralla is a senior journalist who also covers parks, flood control, and Holocaust restitution. She is a former Reuters correspondent who has covered politics, economics and markets.