Millions of Americans have been told to stay out of the ocean over Labor Day weekend following a series of warnings.
Beachgoers in southern California are being urged not to enter the water due to unusually rough waves and strong rip currents.
However, across various parts of the country, officials are alerting that certain beaches are experiencing unusually high levels of fecal contamination, advising swimmers to stay away.
In Los Angeles, the National Weather Service has issued an alert for Ventura County Beaches, Malibu Coast, Los Angeles County Beaches, San Luis Obispo County Beaches, and Santa Barbara County Central Coast Beaches.
The most dangerous conditions were for south-facing beaches from Point Mugu to Malibu, as well as Port San Luis and Avila beach.
In San Diego, the NWS alert warned of ‘elevated surf of 3 to 6 feet expected with sets to 7 feet along south facing beaches.’
The alert will be in effect from late Friday night through Monday evening for San Diego County Coastal Areas and Orange County Coastal Areas.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rip currents can move as fast as eight feet per second, making it easy for them to drag swimmers under.
The National Weather Service has cautioned that beaches in southern California, mainly in San Diego and Los Angeles, will experience dangerously high waves and strong rip currents over the Labor Day weekend (Pictured: San Buenaventura State Beach in Ventura, California).
Additionally, numerous popular beaches are shut down and might remain so during the holiday weekend due to hazardous fecal contamination levels (Pictured: A beach near Ogunquit, Maine, which has been affected by this issue this week).
Swimmers caught in one are advised to swim parallel to the beach until free of the tide.
Elsewhere beach closures are in effect at some of the country’s most popular hotspots due to contamination fears.
Keyes Memorial Beach in the Cape Cod village of Hyannis, Barnstable, Massachusetts; Benjamin’s Beach on Long Island in Bay Shore, New York; part of the Imperial Beach shoreline near San Diego; and beaches in the vicinity of Ogunquit, Maine, are all closed due to elevated fecal matter levels.
In Hawaii, authorities are warning that of a high bacteria count at Kahaluu Beach Park on the Big Island.
This isn’t a new problem, as tests done last year revealed that nearly two-thirds of beaches nationwide had at least one day when fecal contamination reached potentially unsafe levels, according to a report from conservation group Environment America.
According to the report, which was put out this summer, 84 percent of Gulf Coast beaches exceeded the standard at least once.
The number was 79 percent for West Coast beaches, 54 percent for East Coast beaches and 71 percent for Great Lakes beaches.
This is happening because of old sewage systems and an increasing number of severe storms that overwhelm those same systems with high levels of rainfall.
The bacteria in fecal matter can cause gastrointestinal illness, rashes and nausea, which has some Americans rethinking trips to the ocean, especially people with weakened immune systems
The bacteria in fecal matter can cause gastrointestinal illness, rashes and nausea, which has some Americans rethinking trips to the ocean.
One expert said people who have weak immune systems already should really think twice.
‘Those storm drains carry everything,’ said Erin Bryan-Millush, an environmental program supervisor with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. ‘It could be really bad for someone who is immune compromised.’
John Rumpler, clean water director and senior attorney with Environment America, said this is a problem that needs to be addressed by public servants.
‘These beaches are a treasure for families across New England and across the country. They are a shared resource,’ he said.
‘We need to make the investment to make sure that literally our own human waste doesn’t wind up in the places where we are swimming,’ he added.
