You might be pooh-poohing the warnings — but your stomach won’t be.
A new study just flushed out the top 10 “bacteria hot spots” at the United States beaches, and now you might think twice before diving into this popular New York location.
With Memorial Day weekend rapidly approaching, you might be planning on enjoying the sunshine at the beach, but a new report from the Surfrider Foundation found that 80% of beaches and sampling sites produced “at least one high bacteria result that exceeded state health standards.”
If you were planning on partying it up at Windmill Beach in Sag Harbor, Long Island, you might want to think again.
The trendy Hamptons beach is a popular summer destination for New Yorkers, but came in at a bacteria rate of 43%, the seventh worst in the 50 States and Puerto Rico, based on 10,210 water samples. The number indicates the percentage of samples from the body of water that failed to meet state health codes for beaches.
While Surfrider’s researchers are still determining if the pollution was caused by human or animal sewage, swimming in any kind of sewage can cause a slew of health conditions like diarrhea, skin and eye infections, rashes, gastrointestinal symptoms, flu-like symptoms, and even hepatitis.
This year’s list is déjà poo for the Hamptons. In 2023, Mecox Bay in Southampton made a splash when it landed in the top 10 U.S. beaches teeming with enterococcus, a bacteria that measures how much poop is in the water.
A damning 2023 Environment America report found that over half of New York beaches are contaminated by poop and sewage.
The 10 worst bacteria-rated beaches in the U.S.
- Kahalu’u in Kahalu’u, O’ahu, Hawai‘i — 92%
- Park View Kayak Launch in Miami Beach, Florida — 90%
- Waikomo Stream at Koloa Landing in Poipu, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i — 90%
- Imperial Beach in San Diego, California — 82%
- Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, California — 71%
- South Sound Thea Foss Floating Dock in Tacoma, Washington — 64%
- Ballard Park in Melbourne, Florida — 52%
- Windmill Beach in Sag Harbor, New York — 43%
- San Luis Creek Mouth in Avila Beach, California — 38%
- Playa Crashboat in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico — 23%
