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Health Dept Will Shoot You A Text If NYC Beaches Are Full Of Feces
By
John Del Signore
Published May 22, 2014
Modified May 22, 2014
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John Del Signore / Gothamist
By
John Del Signore
Published May 22, 2014
Modified May 22, 2014
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Want to know if your favorite NYC beach is currently being tickled by fecal-fused waves? There's no an app for that, but there is a number you can text with your cell phone. The Health Department announced today that they're launching a free texting service to provide subscribers alerts about any advisories, closures, or water quality issues. Like when torrential rain causes raw sewage to be released into city waterways.
To sign up, simply text BEACH to 877-877 to get the status of your beach. "The Health Department is responsible for beach surveillance and routine water quality monitoring of all public and private beaches in New York City, and regularly tests the City’s beach water to make sure it is safe for swimming," the announcement explains. "When water quality near the beaches is compromised from excessive rain runoff, sewage or other pollution events, it can pose health risks to swimmers."
If you're unfamiliar with this recondite text message technology, you can also find regularly updated information on beach conditions online here.
The NYC Parks Department will open the eight public beaches under its purview for swimming on Saturday. (A 2012 report found that they're actually pretty clean!) Here's our thorough guide to local beaches.
Tagged
beaches
excrement
Feces
parks department
sewage
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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