DRNA’s weekly beach notice, published September 11, names six beaches as not suitable for swimming. Tropical Beach in Naguabo has now been named in 26 of the 60 notices on file, more than any other beach on this week’s list.
This week’s DRNA notice names six beaches as not suitable for swimming, up from four in the previous notice, with five of them newly added and only one carried over. That repeat is Tropical Beach in Naguabo, which has now turned up in 26 of the 60 notices on file this season, more than any other beach, so its presence again is less a new problem than a continuation of the season’s most persistent pattern. Two other beaches on the list, Punta Salinas and Punta Guilarte, dropped off this week’s notice even though their last recorded numbers were above the 70-colony action value, so their absence from the list doesn’t mean the water there has been rechecked and cleared.
Every beach named this week had its last published count below the 70-colony action value, since DRNA re-samples these stations regardless and the notice stands until new results come back; results themselves are published days after the water was actually sampled, so none of this reflects current conditions at the coast. Beyond the six flagged spots, coverage remains thin: of the island’s 49 monitoring stations, 26 have a sample within the last 21 days, meaning a large share of Puerto Rico’s coastline is not being actively watched at any given time. Anyone picking a beach this weekend is working with a partial and slightly dated picture rather than a live read of the water.
Not suitable for swimming this week
| Beach | Town | Enterococcus | Sampled | Times flagged this season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balneario Manuel Nolo Morales; Sardinera | Dorado | 31 | August 25 | 11 of 60 |
| Playa Sixto Escobar | San Juan | 10 | August 25 | 5 of 60 |
| Tropical Beach | Naguabo | 41 | August 24 | 26 of 60 |
| Playa Guayanés | Yabucoa | 41 | August 24 | 18 of 60 |
| Playa Cabullón | Ponce | 9 | August 25 | 7 of 60 |
| Pico de Piedra | Aguada | 209 | August 24 | 7 of 60 |
DRNA lists Balneario Manuel Nolo Morales; Sardinera (last published number 31), Playa Sixto Escobar (last published number 10), Tropical Beach (last published number 41), Playa Guayanés (last published number 41) and Playa Cabullón (last published number 9) even though those are below the 70-colony action value; DRNA re-samples, and its notice stands. Balneario Punta Guilarte (Arroyo) and Balneario Punta Salinas (Toa Baja) are not on the notice, but their own last numbers are above the action value: 109 and 75.
Off the list since the last notice
| Beach | Town | Now | Sampled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balneario Punta Salinas | Toa Baja | Above the action value | August 25 |
| Balneario Punta Guilarte | Arroyo | Above the action value | August 24 |
| Muelle de Arecibo | Arecibo | Within limits | August 25 |
Coming off the list is not a certificate: it means this week’s notice does not name the beach, from samples taken September 8 and 9.
What this notice does and does not say
Volunteer labs test some beaches DRNA does not, and their results are published separately: they are not part of this notice and cannot put a beach under advisory.
Every monitoring station, with its own number and its own date, is on the beach water quality page; DRNA’s notice itself is here (and as a PDF, which is a scan).
This is the 2nd Beach Watch (the previous one is here).
Source: DRNA “Notificación Monitoria de Playas”, posted September 11; samples taken September 8 and 9. Numbers from CARICOOS’s monitoring feed. The Beach Action Value is 70 colonies of Enterococcus per 100 mL; DRNA’s notice is the only thing that puts a beach under a swimming advisory, and it is superseded by the next one.