Overview

• Authorities posted advisories and closures from Maine to Florida and on the West Coast and Great Lakes, including San Diego’s Imperial Beach, Silver Strand and Coronado, plus multiple Los Angeles County beaches flagged for high bacteria.
• On the East Coast, Benjamin’s Beach on Long Island and Keyes Memorial Beach in Hyannis were closed to swimming, and Hawaii’s Kahaluu Beach Park carried a high-bacteria warning.
• Some warnings were not prominently posted at local beaches, and several beachgoers said they still planned to swim despite the cautions.
• State officials said heavy rains and storms, including Hurricane Erin, worsened erosion and runoff that carry contaminants through storm drains, posing heightened risks for people with weakened immune systems.
• A July assessment by Environment America found 61% of tested U.S. beaches had at least one day of potentially unsafe fecal contamination in 2024, with more than 450 beaches unsafe on at least a quarter of test days and an illness risk of about 32 per 1,000 swimmers at the alert threshold.