On June 10, the Anne Arundel County Department of Health issued advisories against swimming and other direct water contact at two beaches: Arden Beach at Shore End Drive, which is in Crownsville, Maryland and on the Severn River and Londontown Beach at Silver Run Road, which is in Edgewater, Maryland and on the South River, due to high bacteria levels found in recent water samples.
On their website, the health department stated: "The beaches are tested regularly during the summer as part of the Department’s recreational water quality sampling program. The advisory will remain in effect until water samples show bacteria levels to be at an acceptable level that meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard. The Department of Health has posted advisory signs at the beaches. The Department advises people who have come in contact with the affected water to wash well with soap and warm water immediately. Clothing should also be washed. Many factors, such as rainfall, waterfowl, water temperature and tidal action, can cause high bacteria readings." To learn more, check out the Beach Swimming Guide on aahealth.org.
These beaches continue to be closed until the waters can be re-sampled at an acceptable time. The Bay Ridge Beach at Bay Drive and the Middle Beach and South Beach at Sandy Point are currently under swim advisories for high bacteria levels but they are being re-sampled to keep us up to date. In the future, keep in mind that after rainfall of 1/2 inch or more, all Anne Arundel County beaches go under a no swimming/no direct water contact advisory for at least 48 hours due to predicted elevated bacteria levels from rainwater runoff. Other resources to monitor water quality include, Eyes on the Bay, which gives you access to data from DNR's tidal monitoring stations around the Bay and Maryland Healthy Beaches; another invaluable resource for current conditions at your favorite swimming holes. They even have a nifty app for your iphone and Android for up-to-date alerts whenever you want them. Another app to check out is the Waterkeeper Swim Guide which can be found on the Apple iTunes Store.