FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robbie Wilbur
September 19, 2009
601/961-5277
MDEQ ISSUES BEACH ADVISORY FOR ONE LOCATION IN HARRISON COUNTY
ANOTHER IN HARRISON COUNTY STILL IN EFFECT
TWO STATIONS IN JACKSON COUNTY REOPEN
(JACKSON, Miss.) -- The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
(MDEQ), through its Beach Monitoring Program, is working closely with local
officials to advise residents that the following location may have high
bacteria levels:
*Station 11 in Gulfport near Cowan/Lorraine Road;
*Station 7A in Harrison County is still under an advisory issued September 18; and,
*Stations 19 and 20 in Pascagoula have been reopened.
MDEQ strongly advises against swimming and other water contact in these
waters until water samples show a consistent safe level for human contact.
When water samples show that levels are safe for human contact, the
advisory will be lifted. 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.
The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, which performs water sampling of the
Mississippi Gulf Coast beaches for MDEQ, will notify the agency when the
area has returned to acceptable levels. For more information on the
Mississippi Beach Monitoring Program:
http://www.usm.edu/gcrl/msbeach/index.cgi.
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