Once again great!

Sea Point Beach  –  5
Crescent Beach   –  20
Scuba Beach       –  5
Horn Point          –  5
Pier Beach           –  5
                               

What we measure is the amount of enterococci bacteria, which is present in the feces of human, animal, birds and dead ocean creatures and seaweed, in 100 millilitres of water. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency has set the standard for safe human use at 104 colony forming units (CFUs).

Five Kittery residents are working for The Maine Healthy Beaches Program, which was started in the Spring of 2005.       

Every Tuesday, residents Sally Soule, Brian Cox, Deb Martin and Alexandra Mead
collect water samples at: Sea Point Beach, Crescent Beach and the three beaches
at Fort Foster:Scuba Beach, Horn Point Beach and Pier Beach.

We put the test results in coolers where they are then picked up by the Courier from a testing lab in Kennebunk. Approximately 24 hours later, we get the testing results on the Maine Healthy Beaches website.

If any of the readings exceed the accepted bacteria level, one or more of us collect another sample at that beach only and transfer it to the courier for testing again. The next day we receive the results on the website. During this process we post a warning sign, either an orange “warning” sign immediately. If we get two bad readings in two days, we will post a beach closed sign.