Fourth water advisory issued for Rehoboth Beach

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has lifted a recreational water-quality advisory for Rehoboth Beach. The advisory was issued Sept. 7, the fourth advisory in a little over a month.

The advisory was sent out following bacterial testing results that exceeded the recreational water-quality standard at testing sites at Rehoboth Avenue and Virginia Avenue. The first advisory of this summer was issued July 28, the second was Aug. 4, and the third was Aug. 23.

DNREC uses enterococcus bacteria levels to determine the need for recreational swimming advisories in Delaware, with the threshold beginning at greater than 104 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters. According to the sample data found online, there were 3,448 colony-forming units at Virginia Avenue during a test Aug. 22. The same data shows 805 colony-forming units at Rehoboth Avenue.

City spokesperson Lynne Coan said swimmers were being kept out of the water in Rehoboth Sept. 7 anyway due to heavy surf conditions.

The bacteria detected most likely originates from wildlife sources, while recent rainfall and resulting stormwater also are likely factors, she said.

Prior to this stretch, the DNREC data set shows Rehoboth had not had a bacteria-related advisory since August 2020.

Editor’s note: This post has been updated to reflect the lifting of the advisories.