People are splashing in the surf again at beaches in a pair of Cape May County communities. They’re back open after a malfunction at a wastewater treatment facility caused officials to close parts of the ocean. Visitors are happy to be back ahead of July 4th.
Update: The ocean was reopened Tuesday after clean tests, Wildwood Crest said in a news release.
A malfunction at a wastewater treatment facility led to ocean closures in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey.
“Officials from the Cape May County MUA (Municipal Utilities Authority) discovered Monday morning that the last of three phases in its wastewater treatment system at the Seven-Mile MUA Station failed to trigger during a period from sometime Sunday afternoon through Monday morning for treated water funneled through an outfall line that extends one mile into the ocean at Jefferson Avenue, in Wildwood Crest,” a spokesperson for Wildwood Crest wrote in a released statement.
The Cape May County Department of Health ordered the brief closure of the ocean in the affected areas, which include Miami Avenue through Jefferson Avenue, equivalent to about the southern third of the Wildwood Crest beachfront, Diamond Beach and the Cape May Inlet.
The closure began Monday afternoon and will last into Tuesday morning as officials test the ocean water quality. The areas will be reopened if the test results are within acceptable limits, officials said.
While the water in the areas was closed, the beaches remained open to the public.
