Come on in, Sea Gaters, the water’s fine!
The city reopened Sea Gate beach to swimmers on Thursday, a week after a Harlem sewage treatment plant spewed 200 million gallons of raw human waste into the Hudson River, forcing its closure.
The Department of Health closed the private beach to swimming, boating and fishing after five pump engines inside the North River Wastewater Treatment plant caught fire, causing the release of the raw sewage.
Sea Gate, which faces the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Gravesend Bay, was the only beach to close in Brooklyn because of the spillage. Three beeches on Staten Island were also off-limits to swimmers.
Samples collected off Sea Gate passed the city’s water quality test two days in a row, enough time to end the closure.
Mayor Bloomberg announced the lifting of the ban at a Brighton Beach Civic Association meeting Thursday night, where he warned swimmers that they still must take precautions even if they don’t have to worry about swimming with fecal matter.
“Don’t go in the water unless you have a lifeguard,” the mayor said.
