JACKSON, Miss. – State environmental and health agencies have lifted beach advisories for the three Mississippi coastal counties issued due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi
Department of Marine Resources, and the Mississippi State Department of Health made the announcement today.
The beaches have been open to use under the advisories, but after weeks of clean up
activities and continuous assessments of the beaches, the Mississippi Beach Monitoring Task
Force recommends replacing the advisories with an oil impact statement.
The statement acknowledges that beaches have been oiled but are now open, cautions
beachgoers that tar balls or tar mats may continue to be seen, and advises people that although
these materials do not represent a significant human health risk, people should take some
common sense precautions if tar balls are present.
The agencies recommend people to:
Avoid contact with tar balls.
If you see tar balls in the water, you are advised not to enter.
Do not handle tar balls.
If you get tar ball residue on your skin, wash with soap and water.
If you get tar ball residue on your clothing, launder as usual.
Do not use harsh detergents, solvents or other chemicals to wash tar ball residue from skin
or clothing: this may promote absorption through the skin.
For more information contact:
Mississippi Department of Health at 866-519-6362.
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality at 228-432-1056.
Beginning next week, signs with this information will be posted at beach monitoring locations.
Maps of beach monitoring locations and the status of advisories are available at
http://www.usm.edu/gcrl/msbeach/index.cgi.
