NJ beaches: Last of the fecal bacteria clears from river beach See the full beach-by-beach results below

Russ Zimmer | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption NJ beach water quality: 5 worst beaches of 2017 The Asbury Park Press analyzed nearly 4,000 water quality tests performed at New Jersey beaches in the 2017 summer. Here are the five beaches that failed bacteria tests most often.

MONDAY A.M. UPDATE: Results released on Saturday showed fecal bacteria at the east beach in Pine Beach had returned to safe levels. Testing of all lifeguarded beaches in New Jersey begins anew this morning and those results will be released Tuesday afternoon. Any excessive readings will be shared on app.com.

THURSDAY P.M. UPDATE: The closure of Windward Beach in Brick has been lifted after bacteria counts plunged in the water of the Metedeconk River. However, the east beach in Pine Beach is now closed for a fourth straight day.

There was a lab accident that prevented the sample from being processed, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

THURSDAY A.M. UPDATE: Both Windward Beach in Brick and the east beach in Pine Beach remain closed due to the continued presence of excessive bacteria. Those river beaches have been tested again and those results will be released this afternoon.

WEDNESDAY: The fecal bacteria that swamped New Jersey beaches after a rainstorm earlier this week has mostly dispersed, just a day after the state acknowledged the most widespread bacteria flareup recorded on the Shore in at least 13 summers.

Two river beaches were closed Wednesday but there is no longer an elevated risk of waterborne illnesses at any other public swimming beach in New Jersey, according to test results released Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued 47 bacteria advisories that included beaches from the Raritan Bayshore all the way south to Cape May City.

Another 14 beaches logged excessive bacteria counts but no formal action was taken because those spots are not yet open to swimmers for the summer.

"We know that, based on our experience, it was a result of 2 to 3 inches of rain that fell on Sunday," said Bruce Friedman, director of the DEP’s Division of Water Monitoring and Standards, during a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon.

NJ BEACHES: Why fecal bacteria occasionally takes over Jersey Shore beaches

NJ TICKS: The Lone Star tick is gorging on Garden State blood

The rash of bacteria spoiled 1 out of every 3 public swimming beaches in New Jersey, making it the worst single day for water quality at Jersey Shore beaches since at least 2005, according to state data.

Oceanfront beaches in Long Branch were among the worst offenders: A sample at the Elberon Beach Club was nearly 8 times the acceptable standard.

This is the second week in a row during which bacteria linked to human and animal waste intensified to the point that public health advisories were issued at Shore beaches.

Oceanfront beaches, which traditionally have cleaner water than those along the rivers and bays, accounted for 49 of the beaches where excessive bacteria were identified on Monday.

Windward Beach on the Metedeconk River in Brick and the east beach in Pine Beach along the south shore of the Toms River were closed today after the second round of testing showed persistent unsafe levels of bacteria. Other river beaches would have been closed but they have not yet opened for the season.

Those beaches were sampled again on Wednesday and the results will be released Thursday afternoon and posted soon thereafter to APP.com.

The bacteria counts below show how beaches performed on Tuesday compared with Monday (in parentheses). Anything at or above 104 colony-forming units (cfu) is considered unsafe for bathers.

Monmouth County

Highlands, Community center, 80 cfu (130)

Long Branch, Elberon Beach Club, 30 cfu (810)

Long Branch, South Bath, 10 cfu (600)

Long Branch, North Bath, 10 cfu (600)

Long Branch, Joline, 10 cfu (440)

Long Branch, Atlantic Avenue, 20 cfu (390)

Long Branch, Ocean Beach Club, 50 cfu (380)

Deal, Deal Casino, 40 cfu (310)

Deal, Philips Avenue, 10 cfu (260)

Deal, Hathaway Avenue, 30 cfu (190)

Loch Arbour, Village Beach Club, 10 cfu (150)

Neptune, Broadway, 30 cfu (130)

Spring Lake, Brown Avenue, 20 cfu (240)

Spring Lake, York Avenue, 20 cfu (120)

ASBURY PARK'S 'TILLIE': Who owns the iconic face of the resurgent city?

Ocean County

Point Pleasant, river beach, 350 cfu (600), not yet open for summer

Point Pleasant Beach, Maryland, 10 cfu (150)

Brick, Windward, 600 cfu, (635), closed

Beachwood, west, 380 cfu (600), not yet open for summer

Pine Beach, Station Avenue, 440 cfu (170), closed

Ocean Gate, Wildwood, 350 cfu (600), not yet open for summer

Ocean Gate, Angelsea, 330 cfu (600), not yet open for summer

Berkeley, Berkeley Island, not available , (600)

, (600) Pine Beach, Avon Road, not available, (380)

(380) Toms River, Shelter Cove, 10 cfu (220)

Seaside Park, 5th Avenue (bayfront), 10 cfu (170)

CLINGING JELLYFISH: Nasty little jellies confirmed in Metedeconk, feared to be in Barnegat Bay

Atlantic County

Atlantic City, Dover, 5 cfu (320)

Atlantic City, Missouri, 70 cfu (315)

Atlantic City, Bartram, 15 cfu (292)

Atlantic City, Texas, 10 cfu (250)

Atlantic City, Albany (oceanside), 19 cfu (210)

Atlantic City, Michigan, 10 cfu (205)

Atlantic City, Illinois, 10 cfu (190)

Atlantic City, Kentucky, 5 cfu (125)

Ventnor City, Austin, 5 cfu (200)

Ventnor City, Dorset, 5 cfu (185)

Margate, Clermont, 5 cfu (170)

Margate, Gladstone, 5 cfu (160)

Cape May County

Wildwood, Montgomery, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood, Bennett, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood Crest, Jefferson, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood Crest, Lavendar, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood Crest, Hollywood, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood Crest, Forgetmenot, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood Crest, Orchid, 2 cfu (120)

Wildwood Crest, Miami, 2 cfu (120)

Ocean City, 16th St., 4 cfu (120)

Ocean City, Park, 6 cfu (120)

Ocean City, 28th St., 4 cfu (120)

Ocean City, 24th St., 4 cfu (120)

Cape May, Grant, 16 cfu (120)

Cape May, Philadelphia, 4 cfu (120)

Cape May, Congress, 10 cfu (120)

Upper Township, Beesley's Point, 98 cfu (120)

Lower Township, Richmond Avenue, 6 cfu (120)

GUN CONTROL IN NJ: Phil Murphy tightens standards, asserts himself in national debate

An estimated 57 million illnesses are connected to swimming in tainted U.S. waters — rivers, lakes, ponds and the oceans — every year, according to a study released in the medical journal "Environmental Health" in January.

Those maladies could take the form of stomach cramps, a rash or an ear or eye infection.

MARY LEE: It's been a year since we've heard from the great white shark. Where did she go?

Watching the water

Every week during the summer, county officials take samples of water from every lifeguarded beach in the state. The Asbury Park Press shares those results every Tuesday afternoon.

These tests are probing for enterococcus, a bacteria that grows inside the intestines of humans and other warm-blooded animals and can be found alongside their feces. In water where enterococcus is prevalent, other dangerous pathogens tend to lurk.

Learn more about the testing process in the video below.

Is it safe to swim at the Shore? The state tests nearly all public beaches in New Jersey for the presence of a dangerous bacteria.

Last week, 10 beaches "failed" the test. Half of those beaches were under official advisories for a day before the bacteria dissipated. The other five have not opened for the summer.

Friedman, of the state DEP, defended the purity of the Jersey Shore's coastal water, which regularly scores better than beaches in every other state on the East Coast, except Delaware, U.S. EPA data shows.

Indeed, the Shore is decades removed from the images of murky water and syringe-lined beaches from the 1970s and 1980s that it must still fight against.

JERSEY SHORE BEACH GUIDE: Everything you need to know to plan your trip

The Clean Water Act has been implemented and subsequently strengthened at the federal level. New Jersey has been assessing its own beach water since 1974.

"When I was a kid, the water was brown in Atlantic City and you didn't see any dolphins," Friedman said. "Now, I go to (Long Beach Island) and the water is actually blue."

The impact of rain

Weather is the best predictor of when levels of enterococcus will spike to unacceptable levels. Experts generally suggest avoiding contact with the water for 24 to 48 hours — longer for river and bay beaches — after a heavy rain.

The following rain totals, in inches, were logged overnight and into the pre-dawn hours on Monday, shortly before test samples were collected, according to the New Jersey Weather and Climate Network:

Cape May Courthouse: 0.63

Atlantic City: 0.94

Toms River: 1.86

Sea Girt: 1.12

Holmdel: 0.61

Rainfall carries animal waste from roofs and asphalt through storm sewers, which funnel this dirty water into streams that eventually feed into rivers, bays and then out into the ocean, where it can take a day or two to dissipate.

Up north, combined-sewer overflows — during which rainwater and raw human sewage mix together and then are released back into the environment untreated — can occur with as little as one-tenth of an inch of rain from a storm. That effluent is carried south toward the Jersey Shore within a day or two.

NJ SPORTS BETTING: Complete list of options for opening day at Monmouth Park

Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com, @russzimmer