NEW YORK—The beach at Jacob Riis Park in Queens is closed to swimming until further notice due to high bacterial levels found in water samples, the Gateway National Recreation Area announced on Facebook.
The National Park Service advised people to avoid contact with the water on a day with temperatures reaching the mid-90s.
“Water checks are done on a weekly basis and delivered to state certified labs for analysis according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations for microbial contamination,” a spokesperson for the NPS said in a statement. "If there is an exceedance than the beaches are closed and daily sample collections are made until the bacteria count is below the threshold. The enterococcus threshold is 104 CFU/100 mL.”
Meanwhile, the city’s parks department said in a statement that it has not received any water quality advisories from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for its beaches in the Rockaways.
The NPS added it is not sure when the beach will be reopened.