Current Beach Closure Protocol

The current regulations allow local health officers to determine if a facility is polluted or not. The state Department of Health has not developed pollution standards for bathing beaches. When asked by local health departments, the state has recommended use of one of two standards:

1. The fecal coliform standard developed by the federal Water Pollution Control Federation, which is a geometric mean of 200 fecal coliform, with not more than 10% of the samples exceeding 400.
2. The ten state standard which is a geometric mean of 200 fecal coliform with no single sample exceeding 1000.

There is no standard approach among local health departments for determining when or if a beach should be closed. Agencies may use total coliforms, fecal coliforms, or even alternatives such as E. coli and enterococcus bacteria. Closed beaches are well marked with signs alerting people to the closures.

Read summaries of previous season's closures.