Mom: Delaware Bay Bathing Caused Daughter’s Skin Rash

VILLAS – According to Christina Rusin of Villas, her daughter Tyler is suffering from a skin infection that was caused by swimming in Delaware Bay near Evergreen Avenue’s beach.
July 8, after swimming in the bay near her home, her daughter began exhibiting a rash on her face and back that she had never before experienced.
“It kind of looks like hives, but there are bumps, and the area looks dried out,” according to Rusin. As the condition worsened, Tyler was taken to a physician who diagnosed the condition as a bacterial infection.
Rusin stated that she is “concerned because she has seen dogs that are permitted into the surf poop in the water,” and she wondered if the water at the beach is tested for fecal material or other pollutants.
She stated that she knows someone else who suffered from a similar rash after swimming at Higbee Beach.
Rusin stated that she has tried to speak with someone from the Cape May County Health Department but has been unable to do so.
The county participates in the statewide Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program that publishes all water quality testing results from dozens of test points along the Atlantic Ocean beaches, but no data exists for the Delaware Bay.
The test results available from Cape May Point, which is near Higbee Beach, indicated no water quality issues for that week, although the beach where Rusin’s daughter swam is quite a distance away from that test site.
The Herald contacted Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson who stated that he is responsible for the Cape May County Health Department, but that he has not received any complaints about water quality along the bay.
Pierson explained that it is up to the township to decide if they want to hire lifeguards that would be needed to make those beaches qualify for water monitoring.
Linda Wilde, director of environmental services at the Department of Health further explained that the bay beaches are not designated as “recreational facilities,” and are not protected by lifeguards or equipped with other required amenities for swimming by the township.
Because of this lack of official designation, water monitoring is not required in Delaware Bay.
Wilde added that in lakes, rivers or other bodies of water, swimming is not promoted because of a lack of flushing action that would likely keep the water clean.
She stated that Delaware Bay beaches are not promoted for that purpose and are therefore excluded from the law governing water quality testing.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.