Water quality good at nearly all MS Coast beaches. Only two advisories remain

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has removed water-contact advisories from all but two of the 21 beaches it monitors across South Mississippi.

Nearly all of the beaches between Bay St. Louis and Front Beach in Ocean Springs have had an advisory at some point this year. The only two that remain are:

• Long Beach Beach: Water-contact advisory since March 12. The advisory is the result of probable high levels of Enterococci bacteria from Oak Gardens eastward to Girard.
• Gulfport Harbor Beach: Advisory since April 23. The advisory is the result of probable high levels of Enterococci bacteria from 20th eastward to Thornton Avenue

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issues water-contact advisories as part of its Beach Monitoring Program.

The beaches are still open. But the Department of Environmental Quality issues advisories as a precaution to warn beachgoers that swimming could increase the risk of illness. The advisories are often triggered by faulty septic tanks or sewers that leak through the stormwater system and into the Mississippi Sound.

Scientists at the Department of Environmental Quality test beaches under advisory every day until Enterococcus bacteria levels return to normal. The agency also has a standing advisory against swimming after heavy rain because runoff from drains south of the railroad tracks inevitably washes pollutants into the waves.