Nassau, Suffolk issue swimming advisories for 82 LI beaches

Health officials on Long Island issued an advisory against swimming at 82 beaches because runoff from heavy rain may adversely affect water quality.

“The advisory is based on the potential that bacteria in excess of New York State standards, resulting from the heavy rain, will impact these areas,” Suffolk County health officials said Friday in a news release announcing its advisory, in effect for 63 beaches.

The advisory is expected to be lifted at 5 a.m. Sunday, “unless water samples indicate that elevated levels of bacteria have persisted beyond the 24-hour period,” the news release said.

The Nassau County Health Department issued an advisory Friday against swimming at 19 beaches.

The 14 North Shore beaches are:

• Centre Island Sound, Bayville;
• Creek Club, Lattingtown;
• Lattingtown Beach, Lattingtown;
• Laurel Hollow Beach, Laurel Hollow;
• Morgan Sound, Glen Cove;
• North Hempstead Beach Park, Port Washington;
• Piping Rock Beach Club, Locust Valley;
• Pryibil Beach, Glen Cove;
• Ransom Beach, Bayville;
• Theodore Roosevelt Beach, Oyster Bay;
• Sea Cliff Village Beach, Sea Cliff;
• Soundside Beach, Bayville;
• Stehli Beach, Bayville;
• Tappen Beach, Glenwood Landing.

Five beaches on the South Shore are included in the advisory:

• Biltmore Beach Club, Massapequa;
• Hewlett Point Beach, East Rockaway;
• Island Park Beach, Island Park;
• Merrick Estates Civic Association, Merrick;
• Philip Healey Beach, Massapequa.

The Nassau advisory will be lifted at 11 a.m. Saturday unless additional heavy rainfall or water samples reveal elevated bacterial levels, the department said.

For up-to-date recorded information on beach openings and closings, call 516-227-9700; to speak with a Health Department representative on weekdays, from 9 a.m., to 4:45 p.m., call 516-227-9717.

In Suffolk County, Benjamin Beach in Bay Shore has been closed to swimming due to elevated levels of bacteria, the Suffolk Health Department said Thursday.

The beach will reopen after testing determines that the bacteria has dropped to acceptable levels, the department said.

The department also said that Lake Ronkonkoma remains closed to swimming due to elevated levels of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae.

For more information on Suffolk beaches, call the bathing beach hotline at 631-852-5822 or the Department of Health Services’ Office of Ecology at 631-852-5760 during normal business hours.