More Than Half Of New York State’s Beaches Are Contaminated With Poop

A new report revealed some pretty gross and potentially dangerous news about New York State's beaches. Environment America conducted a study of beaches across the country and many of NY's beaches did not fare well.

While over half of New York's beaches had fecal contamination, we are not alone, according to the report:

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In 2022, 1,761 out of 3,192 tested beaches nationwide (55%) experienced at least one day on which fecal contamination reached potentially unsafe levels – that is, exceeding EPA’s most protective “Beach Action Value,” a conservative, precautionary tool states can use to make beach notification decisions.

 

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Many New York Beaches Have Potentially Unsafe Levels Of Fecal Bacteria

The study tested 344 beaches around New York State for fecal indicator bacteria in 2022. Of the beaches tested, 198 or 58 percent, had potentially unsafe levels of fecal indicator bacteria on at least one testing day. The beaches tested were along Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and the Atlantic Ocean Beaches around the NYC area.

New York State Beaches with the most potentially unsafe days in 2022:

Beach name | County or equivalent | Percentage of potentially unsafe test days 

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