Spencer Hughes, water sampler collector for the Cape May County Department of Health, takes samples at the beach in Wildwood Crest on Monday, July 31, 2023, as part of the county’s weekly water quality testing. The county, like others throughout New Jersey, partners with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to keep residents informed on health advisories and other information tied to the testing.Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
By Steven Rodas | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The few beachgoers on the shores of Wildwood Crest at daybreak barely notice as a pair of county health workers stop their white Ford Explorer.
In short order, the two take a water sample at the beach, put a stopper on the sterile plastic bottle, plop it into a cooler and head to the next spot.
Nine down.
More than 20 to go.
“People don’t see it, but we’re helping to protect them,” says Maryanne Mathis, a registered environmental health specialist trainee with the Cape May County Health Department, just after 6 a.m. on Monday, noting that “it feels good.”
“We’re doing the South run,” adds Spencer Hughes, a water sampler collector for the county. “We take samples from North Wildwood all the way to Cape May Point and we have another team today that’s doing our North run.”
In all, staff members in Cape May County will take small amounts of water at 61 guarded ocean beaches and 2 guarded bay beaches early Monday morning as part of weekly water quality testing. That’s part of a larger set of water samples collected at more than 200 beaches — including river and bay beaches in Cape May, Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean counties — along New Jersey’s nearly 130 miles of coastline.
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