Eurobodalla beaches that made the grade of Good or Very good were Cookies Beach, Malua Bay Beach, Bengello Beach, Brou Beach and Narooma Main Beach. These sites had excellent water quality and were suitable for swimming almost all of the time.
Caseys Beach, Broulee Beach, Shelley Beach and Tuross Main Beach were graded as Good, a similar result to the previous year. Water quality at these sites was suitable for swimming most of the time during dry weather conditions, however elevated enterococci levels sometimes exceeded the safe swimming limit following rain.
Microbial water quality at Caseys Beach has continued to decline over the past several years, with significantly elevated bacterial levels more frequently measured, particularly following heavy rainfall.
Surf Beach was graded as Poor in 2019–2020, a similar result to the previous year. Elevated enterococci levels were often measured during dry weather conditions and after rainfall. In the last two years, the microbial water quality has continued to decline, and further investigation is recommended to show the scale and extent of the problem, and the source of microbial contamination. It is recommended to avoid swimming during and for at least one day following rainfall or if there are signs of stormwater pollution such as discoloured water and floating debris.
Further south on the Saphhire Coast the Bega Valley Shire beaches returned a flawless overall result in the 2019-2020 summer Beachwatch State of the Beaches report released last week, with 100% of their beaches graded ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
The State of the Beaches 2019-20 report (and report cards) is now publicly available on the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment website.
