JACKSON – The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), through its Beach Monitoring Program, issued water contact advisories Saturday for sampling stations in Hancock County and Harrison County. These segments of beach are not closed; however, there may be an increased risk of illness associated with swimming in these areas.

MDEQ is working closely with local officials to advise residents that the water in the following locations may have high bacteria levels:

Hancock County
●Station 4 — Bay St. Louis — from the box culvert (at Ramaneda) east to Ballantine
Street.

Harrison County
●Station 7A — Long Beach — from Oak Gardens east to Girard.

When water samples show that levels are safe for human contact, the advisories will be lifted. The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, which performs water sampling of the Mississippi Gulf Coast beaches for MDEQ, notifies the agency when an area has returned to acceptable levels.

Additionally, swimmers are reminded that the Beach Task Force has a standing recommendation that swimming not occur during or within 24 hours of a significant rainfall event.

More information on the Mississippi Beach Monitoring Program:
www.usm.edu/gcrl/msbeach/index.cgi.

To receive beach advisories directly, send an email to [email protected] for inclusion in a public group email list, text “MDEQbeach” to 95577, or follow MDEQ on Twitter: @MDEQ.