With More Tests, Coastal Waters Pass Checkups - New York Times: "...'That’s really the story,' said Ms. Lofton, a research scientist for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program, part of whose job it is to look for irregularities in the coastal waters during daily small-plane flights up and down the Shore. 'That New Jersey beaches are being tested better since that 1987 disaster, and that controls are in place.'
County and municipal employees test every Monday, taking water samples from 264 beaches to county health facilities and letting them culture for 24 hours. If they are found to have 104 colonies of bacteria or more per 100 milliliters by Tuesday, another sample is taken. So far, none have reached that level.
'There is still too much fertilizer going into the oceans and too many people who just leave trash on the beaches,' said Ms. Zipf of Clean Ocean Action. 'We would still like to see more municipalities be conscious of what development can do to diminish water quality.'...."
