Beach Testing Results for August 31, 2015
BEACH TESTING RESULTS FOR AUGUST 31st, 2015
Peggotty Beach – 10**
PEGGOTTY BEACH – NO SWIMMING
ALL OTHER BEACHES OPEN FOR SWIMMING
Scituate Beach Water Testing Results:
The 6 beaches that are tested include Humarock, Peggotty Beach, Sand Hills, Egypt Beach, Lighthouse and Minot. Beach testing results are posted to the News & Notices area of the Town of Scituate Home page.
Under Massachusetts Department of Public Health regulations for beaches guidelines, beach operators must test all public ocean beaches for bacteria each week, using the enterococcus indicator organism.
Under that guideline, beach sampling will be conducted weekly during the swim season, which is between the third week of June and Labor Day. Unsatisfactory test results cannot exceed a specified number of bacteria colonies per 100 ml of water. If they do, the beach must be closed to swimming after two consecutive unsatisfactory samples have been collected or if sampling cannot occur on the day following a single elevated level is detected according to current regulations. The maximum contaminant level is 104 Enterococci/100 mL of ocean water. Method of Reference: EPA 1600
**In addition to the single sample evaluation, the geometric mean of the 5 most recent non-rain event samples shall not exceed 35 colonies per 100 ml of water. Therefore, although the most recent single day sample result was below the acceptable single sample level of 104 Enterococci/100 mL of water at Peggotty Beach, the laboratory contacted the Board of Health with the geometric mean results. The geomean at Peggotty Beach remains above the allowable level of 35.