High bacteria levels found in Lowcountry water. Where to avoid.
The group notes that higher levels of bacteria are present after heavy rains and on lower tides, and suggests waiting 48 hours after rainfall before jumping in the water.
On June 6, a water quality report from Charleston Waterkeeper states some popular spots have higher levels of Enterococcus bacteria. Those areas include Filbin Creek at Hendricks Park, three areas of Shem Creek, a portion of Hobcaw Creek, and a portion of James Island Creek.
Why do you want to avoid Enterococcus bacteria? The presence of the bacteria above certain levels suggests that swimming and other recreational saltwater activities might be a risk to human health due to possible contamination by fecal waste, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Charleston Waterkeeper reports that Hobcaw Creek is safe near the mouth, but suggests proceeding with caution as you move up the creek, as it is showing high levels of bacteria near I'on.
Also, the James Island Creek is showing a similar pattern. The creek is safe near Harbor View, but recreational activities are not recommended as you move up the creek, especially areas by Folly Road, according to the report.
Where is it safe to swim?
Beachgoers are in luck because the Charleston Waterkeeper reports that Folly Beach, Sullivan's Island Beach, and Isle of Palms are all safe to dip in the waters.
Some other popular spots that are also good to go to are the Charleston Harbor, the Daniel Island Waterfront, the Cove in Mount Pleasant, Clark Sound, Folly River, and Sol Legare, according to the report.
To stay updated on the Swim Alert map, visit the site here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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NJ beach advisories: 6 Jersey Shore beaches under water quality alerts
Six beaches in Monmouth and Ocean counties are under water quality advisories after health authorities found high levels of a bacteria common in feces in water samples collected this week. Each beach had high levels of Enterococcus, a microbe found in feces of humans and animals. High levels of the bacteria can result from sewage leaks, stormwater runoff, or wildlife and pet waste washing into streams and rivers. As of Aug. 6, these beaches had bacteria levels higher than what New Jersey environmental officials considers safe for swimming, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Keyport beach near Broad Street. Shrewsbury River Yacht Club in Fair Haven. Windward Beach in Brick. Cedar Bridge Manor Park in Brick. Cedar Point in South Toms River. Beachwood's beach, which will remain closed for the season due to chronically elevated bacteria levels. Despite the water quality advisories, the areas remain open to swimming as of Aug. 6. Swimming in water contaminated with bacteria can lead to several types of illnesses, including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and infections of the ears, nose, eyes or throat. Health officials urge people not to swim near stormwater outflow pipes or in water that smells or is discolored. Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than 17 years. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@ or 732-557-5701. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bacteria counts trigger warning at 6 Jersey Shore beaches Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
14-07-2025
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These are the most and least polluted national parks in the U.S.
Great Smoky Mountains Mount Rainier Bryce Canyon How clean dirty Big Bend Grand Canyon Olympic Images from National Park Service webcams [ PLEASE DON'T DELETE THESE WORDS — THEY ARE NEEDED BUT WON'T SHOW UP IN ARTICLE ] America's national parks are wildly popular. Last year, they had more than 330 million visits, a number close to the entire population of the United States. If you ask online what the U.S. 'does better than any other country,' national parks emerge as one of the top answers, alongside its cultural diversity or the universal availability of iced drinks. I still remember my first visit to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia where I got lost in the thick undergrowth before climbing a boulder to see the Blue Ridge Mountains flatten into rolling hills and farmland underneath me. Having experienced such stunning views just hours from D.C., I was surprised when in May the Trump administration paused air quality monitoring at all national parks — although the decision was quickly reversed. Beyond public health, air quality protections help preserve the scenic vistas that define the country's national parks. Since 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency has required states to reduce human-caused 'visibility impairments' in national parks and wilderness areas. While haze levels have declined in most parks in the past quarter century, some sources of pollution have proved difficult to tackle. And in parts of the country, more intense wildfires are threatening to reverse the trend. Below, you can look up trends for sites with the most complete data. 'Very bad' visibility, defined here as less than 20 miles, signals an increase in particles that are no larger than 2.5 micrometers, one-thirtieth the size of a single human hair. Once inhaled, these fine particles can infiltrate the heart and lungs, causing serious illness. Look up air quality in a national park or protected area Search for a national park ... Visibility on haziest days Haze from wildfires Haze from wildfires All other Haze All other Haze No data No data 2000 2010 2023 Very bad Bad Good Shenandoah National Park (Va.) ranks 49th out of 76 sites for visibility – worse than most . Between 2000 and 2023, haze levels improved significantly. When haze monitoring at national parks was introduced 40 years ago, sites in the eastern U.S. reported the worst numbers. That's partly because the area is home to some of the biggest and densest urban areas in the country. But one specific industry has had an outsize impact on pollution in protected areas: coal power. What's at stake Bullet Air pollution in national parks is a health risk and clouds stunning views. On particularly hazy days, visibility from a mountaintop can be reduced to less than 10 miles. When pollution from soot or smog reaches dangerous levels, the National Park Service advises the public to avoid visiting affected parks altogether. Bullet Wildfires are threatening to undo long-term improvements in air quality. Air pollution from cars and industrial activity has gradually declined, but more frequent wildfires are pushing haze levels back up — and into places previously considered safe. Bullet The agencies monitoring air pollution are facing sweeping budget cuts. Without the funds to track the scale and sources of pollution, the National Park Service and EPA can't address the causes of dirty air in national parks. Bill Wade, who spent 32 years at the Park Service and retired in 1997, was superintendent for Shenandoah National Park in the 1990s, when the region ran largely on coal and power companies were trying to expand their footprint. 'There were times when you could drive down [Skyline Drive in Shenandoah] and stop at any one of the 40 turnouts and you could not see the valley floor on either side,' he said in an interview. Clear day Circa 1995 Hazy day Circa 1995 Drag to compare Drag to compare In the 1990s, Shenandoah was frequently enveloped in thick haze coming from nearby industry. Air quality monitoring inside the park became a crucial tool to push for stricter controls on new coal operations. 'We were successful in modifying the permit conditions in a number of plants,' Wade said. In practice, this meant that operators had to install scrubbers or catalytic converters similar to the one you might find in your car. Eastern parks have seen significant improvements in visibility Shenandoah National Park Va. Haze from wildfires Haze from wildfires All other Haze All other Haze No data No data 1990 2000 2010 2023 Very bad Bad Good Great Smoky Mountains National Park Tenn. Haze from wildfires Haze from wildfires All other Haze All other Haze No data No data 1990 2000 2010 2023 Very bad Bad Good As the region became less reliant on coal for electricity, its national parks and wilderness areas saw steep improvements in visibility and healthier air for visitors. The rising threat of wildfires In the West, where other sources of pollution dominate, the trends are less clear. Some of California's most famous parks such as Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon are situated downwind from the state's largest cities, busy highways and industrial-scale agriculture, all of which spew fine particles in the air. From July to October, wildfires add to the mix, bringing brief but intense spikes in pollution. Smoke from large fires can cause yellow haze thousands of miles from where it rises into the atmosphere. How haze changes by month and region Average visibility by month, 2019-2023 Better Worse Western national parks and wilderness areas Hover to see individual parks Hover to see individual parks Wildfire season Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Agua Tibia Wilderness, Calif. Badlands National Park, S.D. Bridger Wilderness, Wyo. Crater Lake National Park, Ore. Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho Denali National Park, Alaska Dome Lands Wilderness, Calif. Gates of the Mountains Wilderness, Mont. Glacier National Park, Mont. Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colo. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Ore. Hoover Wilderness, Calif. Kaiser Wilderness, Calif. Kalmiopsis Wilderness, Ore. Lassen Volcanic National Park, Calif. Lava Beds National Monument, Calif. Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge, N.D. Mesa Verde National Park, Colo. Mount Hood National Forest, Ore. Mount Rainier National Park, Wash. Mount Zirkel Wilderness, Colo. North Absaroka Wilderness, Wyo. North Cascades National Park, Wash. Olympic National Park, Wash. Pasayten Wilderness, Wash. Pinnacles National Monument, Calif. Point Reyes National Seashore, Calif. Redwood National Park, Calif. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo. San Gorgonio Wilderness, Calif. Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho Sequoia National Park, Calif. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, N.D. UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge, Mont. Weminuche Wilderness, Colo. Wind Cave National Park, S.D. Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. Yosemite National Park, Calif. Southwestern Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Bandelier National Monument, N.M. Big Bend National Park, Texas Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah Canyonlands National Park, Utah Chiricahua National Monument, Ariz. Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas Jarbidge Wilderness, Nev. Petrified Forest National Park, Ariz. Saguaro National Monument, Ariz. Salt Creek Wilderness, N.M. San Pedro Parks Wilderness, N.M. Wheeler Peak Wilderness, N.M. Eastern Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Acadia National Park, Maine Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minn. Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge, N.J. Caney Creek Wilderness, Ark. Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, Fla. Cohutta Wilderness, Ga. Dolly Sods Wilderness, Everglades National Park, Fla. Great Gulf Wilderness, N.H. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tenn. James River Face Wilderness, Va. Linville Gorge Wilderness, N.C. Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Mo. Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Ga. Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Mich. Shenandoah National Park, Va. Shining Rock Wilderness, N.C. Sipsey Wilderness, Ala. Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge, N.C. Upper Buffalo Wilderness, Ark. Voyageurs National Park, Minn. 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But over the next 100 years, forest managers aimed to suppress as many fires as possible, leading to more fuel that could ignite in a blaze. This decision, in combination with a hotter and drier climate, paved the way for an era of megafires with record amounts of smoke. Ranking national parks by their average haze levels from 2019 to 2023, four out of the 10 most polluted sites are in California. In contrast, the region with best average visibility is the Southwest, where there is less fuel for fires to burn and parks lie farther away from large cities and industrial centers. While air quality monitoring at the parks continues for now, the Park Service has lost around 13 percent of its staff since January, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. 'Among the people that are being lost are many of the professional scientific and research people,' said Wade, the retired park superintendent. 'It isn't just the park rangers that run the visitor centers.' Asked for comment, the Park Service said in a statement that its air quality program will 'continue to operate within its budget while collecting critical data across the country.' Next year, the Trump administration is planning to cut the service's budget by $1.2 billion, according to its proposed budget. That would cut the agency's funds by 38 percent but save less than 0.1 percent of the total federal budget. Phil Francis, another former Park Service official with a career spanning four decades, said the role of the agency goes beyond allowing visitors to tour protected areas. 'Their job is to conserve the natural and cultural resources so as to leave them unimpaired forever,' he said. 'These are special places, amazing places.' If some areas were to lose their protected status entirely, Francis added, 'it seems to me we would be violating the very basic reason the national parks were created.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Tickets on sale for Patriots Point fireworks blast
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – Tickets are on sale now for one of the Charleston area's favorite summer celebrations. The Fourth of July Fireworks Blast will take place aboard the historic USS Yorktown aircraft carrier at Patriots Point on the Independence Day holiday. The celebration will include live music, local food and beverage vendors, family-friendly activities, and great views of the more than 20-minute fireworks show over Charleston Harbor. 'Whether you're a Charleston local or visiting for the holiday, there's no better place to celebrate America's birthday than atop a piece of American history,' the museum said. A ticket to the celebration includes access to the USS Yorktown and all activities associated with the fireworks blast. Food and drink are available for purchase. The event will be held from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. Organizers say parking is available on site and is not included in the event ticket. Space is limited. For more information about tickets, parking, the clear bag policy, and other details, you can click here for the museum's event page. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
