'Porta Potty' Mishap Closes Some Ship Bottom Beaches to Swimming

A crew working on a beach replenishment project in Long Beach Island was transporting portable toilets over the sand in Ship Bottom Wednesday when a tractor got stuck, resulting in the toilets being exposed to the surf and borough officials prohibiting swimming on a stretch of beach.

The Long Beach Island Health Department is currently investigating the incident and conducting water sampling, said Chris Huch, executive director of Alliance for a Living Ocean, a local environmental organization that reported the mishap after being notified by lifeguards.

The group had previously filed a complaint with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the health department against the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, the contractor working on the replenishment, after members noticed portable toilets being towed over the sand from one location to another.

"The Health Department told us this practice wouldn't take place anymore," said Huch. "No sooner had I posted on our Facebook page that we had good news on the porta potty front, that this practice wasn't going to be taking place anymore, that we got a call from one of the Ship Bottom lifeguards telling us they were driving by with porta potties."

Around noon, one of the tractors pulling the portable toilets from the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Township to Surf City, where replenishment work just began, got stuck in soft sand. For some amount of time, ocean water had contact with the toilets, photographs showed.

Huch said Great Lakes have informed officials the toilets were empty, though it was unclear as to whether they were totally empty or if they still contained chemicals used to treat sewage.

"We're still trying to get to the bottom of this," said Huch, adding that he was informed water testing was taking place in the area where the tractor got stuck.

Long Beach Island Health Department officials were not immediately available for comment, nor were representatives with Great Lakes Dredge and Dock. Patch left messages with both.

A Ship Bottom Beach Patrol official told Patch that all of the borough's beaches were open, but swimming was off-limits from 16th Street through 23rd Street.