This afternoon, July 31, state recreational water quality officials alerted the public that initial testing at the public beach access at Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton showed levels of bacteria exceeding the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s recreational water quality swimming standards.

Water sample test results collected on Monday show bacteria levels of 124 per 100 milliliters of water, which exceeds the state and federal single-sample standard of 104 per 100 milliliters for Tier 1 high-usage sites.

This alert is not a beach closing, nor is the alert for the entire Hatteras Island area.

State officials will retest and if the new samples also show elevated bacteria counts, state officials will post a swimming advisory sign and issue a swimming advisory.