First the good news. The latest pollution levels at the Swim & Racquet Club beach are below EPA levels that signify a health risk. That said, heavy rains just one day following the latest test readings may well mean the area is not healthy for swimming for the next few days.

Backtracking now, the July 5, 2020 OceanPinesForum.com newsletter about pollution levels in the water around the Swim & Racquet Club beach must have rattled a few nerves at OPA. First, they issued a news release saying my reporting was "overblown." It is difficult to imagine how my reporting was overblown since it was copied directly from the "Swim Guide" app that OPA tells people to check before going in the water!

OPA was forced to withdraw that news release and issued an entirely new one. In the new release, the Assateague Coastkeeper more or less plays down the risk of swimming in the area even when the pollution level is said to be unhealthy by EPA and the Swim Guide says the area is code RED.

What's going on?

The headline on the new OPA news release states:

Swim Safe: Check ‘Swim Guide’ before going in local waterways

The headline in a local paper states:

Pines water quality concerns not alarming

Curiously, if one actually looked at the Swim Guide as of July 8, and based on testing done July 2, 2020, it showed the following:

Does anyone see anything ambiguous about the Swim Guide warning? It states the beach has not met water quality standards for swimming. It also states that swimming there is considered "unsafe" due to an increased risk of illness.

Unfortunately, OPA and some local papers are downplaying any risk based on comments from Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips. While the Swim Guide said the area had unhealthy water quality, Phillips is more or less saying don't worry about it. While the Swim Guide reports any area with a test result over 104 as an unhealthy place to swim, Phillips is essentially saying ignore the Swim Guide. The beach had a reading of 108.4, enough for the EPA to classify the area as unsafe due to an increased risk of illness. Phillips is quoted in a local paper as saying, "If we were talking numbers above 400, now that might be cause to think twice before going swimming."

Why should anyone bother looking at the Swim Guide? The Guide includes none of Phillips' explanations as to why it might not be so dangerous to swim at the beach. The Guide does not even provide the test results. The Guide says the area is considered unsafe for swimming. The Guide simply warns people not to swim there. Even if the Guide provided such information, the simple fact is that any test result over 104 indicates unsafe, unhealthy conditions and a failure to meet water quality standards

Topping all this off, in the same newspaper, OPA president Doug Parks said his grandchildren were just swimming there. He says he told them not to drink any of the water. Really? You can't make this stuff up.