The overwhelming majority of issues were uncovered at New Jersey s bay beaches, according to the report. This really is a tale of two shores, where ocean beaches are historically clean and our bay beaches continue to see some exceedances, said Doug O Malley, director of Environment New Jersey.
Testing for bacteria levels occurs at more than 200 ocean and bay beaches in the Garden State. Thirty-five times, levels exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency s Beach Action Value, which is associated with an estimated illness rate of 32 out of every 1,000 swimmers, the report said. The highest number of exceedances for bacteria in our beach waters is found in the Barnegat Bay, O Malley said. Ocean County had the highest average percentage of days with potentially unsafe water, but it was all on the bay beaches.