(BECQ) — The Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality analyzes water samples collected this week from Saipan’s west coast recreational beaches, storm drainages and the Grotto as well as Tinian’s recreational beaches and storm water drainages.
Samples collected from the following Saipan location contained excessive concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria or enterococci that exceeded CNMI marine water quality standards. These bacteria can indicate the presence of human and animal waste in the water.
However, studies have shown that storm water runoff in tropical environments may also contain these bacteria from the natural environment, which may not be directly associated with public health concerns.
Still, to adequately address public health concerns, BECQ has given the following location a red flag and advises the public not to fish or swim within 300 feet of the location for the next 48 hours or until otherwise notified:
• AMP drainage
On Tinian, none of the samples collected contained excessive concentration of fecal indicator bacteria nor did they exceed CNMI marine water quality standards. Therefore, BECQ assigns all of the sampled beach sites on Tinian a green flag.
