FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2012
Contact: Robbie Wilbur
601/961-5277
MDEQ ISSUES BEACH CLOSURE FOR ONE STATION IN HANCOCK COUNTY
(JACKSON, Miss.) -- The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), through its Beach Monitoring Program, issued a beach closure today for a Sampling Station 4 in Hancock County. Station 4 (Bay St. Louis Beach) extends from the box culvert east to Ballantine Street.
The beach closure is being issued due to the possibility of high bacteria levels and dangerous physical conditions caused by beach re-nourishment activities underway in this area. The re-nourishment work utilizes dredges which can release bacteria trapped in the floor of the Mississippi Sound. It can also present dangerous physical conditions including unpredictable terrain, surf, and quicksand plus the presence of heavy equipment operating in the area.
MDEQ will lift the closure after the re-nourishment activities have been completed and water samples show that levels are safe for human contact. 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.
More information on the Mississippi Beach Monitoring Program:
http://www.usm.edu/gcrl/msbeach/index.cgi.
To receive beach advisories directly, send an email to rwilbur@deq.state.ms.us for inclusion in a public group email list or follow MDEQ on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/MDEQ.
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