Advisory Policy

There are 33 environmental coastal monitoring (ECM) stations within the state. Stations are located at areas where primary recreation may be occurring, but the area is not regulated as a public recreational bathing beach. Sampling occurs weekly on Tuesdays. Samples are analyzed for the presence of Enterococci, a type of bacteria found in animal and human waste that is an indicator of possible poor bathing water quality. When a sampling site for ECM fails to meet the primary recreation standard of 104 colony forming units of enterococci per 100mL of sample (cfu/100 mL), an advisory is posted on this website. An advisory remains until the station is resampled and results are within the standard. Resamples are collected again on the following Tuesday. Therefore, an advisory will last for at least one week before resamples are collected. DEP samples, analyzes, coordinates response activities, and administers the ECM.

The DEP does not authorize swimming in locations other than lifeguarded areas. See njbeaches.org for water quality, status, and locations of coastal public recreational bathing beaches.