Three Westchester County beaches are closed after routine water quality testing on Thursday, July 9, detected bacteria levels that exceed New York State health standards.
The Westchester County Department of Health shut down Croton Point Park Beach, Philipse Manor Beach, and Hudson Park East Beach, the county announced on its official social media accounts. The county has not specified a reopening date; beaches closed for exceeding bacteria thresholds reopen only after a satisfactory retest.
The July 9 closures mark a shift from the preemptive, rainfall-triggered shutdowns that affected Rye-area beaches earlier in the week. On Tuesday, July 7, the county closed Coveleigh Club Beach at 459 Stuyvesant Ave. in Rye along with beaches in Mamaroneck and New Rochelle after 1.96 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. Those rainfall-based closures were set to lift Thursday, July 9, unless significant additional rain occurred.
Thursday's closures are different. They stem from confirmed lab results showing bacteria exceeded state limits, not a rainfall prediction model.
A week of water warnings
The string of alerts traces back to the July 4 holiday weekend. A power failure at the Yonkers Wastewater Recovery facility on Thursday, July 3, combined with heavy storms, prompted the county health department to advise residents to avoid all recreational use of the Hudson River. That advisory, issued Tuesday, July 7, covered swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding, and fishing from the water.
Philipse Manor Beach Club had already been closed as of July 7 due to the wastewater facility failure and remained shut "until further notice," according to the county's Facebook page.
What Rye-area residents should know
The county uses tiered rainfall thresholds to determine preemptive closures at local beaches including Coveleigh Club: more than half an inch of rain triggers a one-day closure, more than one inch triggers two days, and more than two inches is evaluated case by case.
The county did not specify which bacteria were detected or the measured levels at the three beaches closed July 9. For context, New York State's freshwater standard sets the threshold at 235 E. coli colonies per 100 milliliters, though the applicable standard may differ for tidal Hudson River beaches.
Residents heading to county beaches should check the Westchester County Department of Health's social media accounts or call the county's beach hotline before making the trip. The county posts closure updates on its official X account, @westchestergov.
