DPNR: THREE BEACHES ON ST. THOMAS UNSAFE FOR SWIMMING AND FISHING

And next week it will be fine. There has been a big algal bloom at Magen's.

It happens all the time and for the most part simply goes completely unnoticed. I've seen/heard of Magens actually closed to swimming maybe three times in as many decades when adverse conditions actually made it dangerous to swim in the waters. Otherwise, these are "advisories" only and the beaches remain open while the advisories are dropped when the next testing is done which is usually within a few days.

Is it algal bloom or contaminated runoff, which is often the case.

Well since today is the first day with measurable rain in 47 days I'm just guessing algae

Magens and Coki are both well protected bays and anything which comes in on the tide sits around longer than in most other bays where the flow is freer. The rain is most welcome and my plantings are happily soaking it up.

Yesterday's little bit of rain had quite an amount of runoff on the roadsides. It was a short rain but created mini rivers along roadsides.

I regularly check the water quality reports and they are always reporting beaches on all 3 islands, including popular tourist beaches at resorts, that do not meet minimum water quality standards.
Rain or no rain. Algae bloom or not.

I'm all for a good rain.
We need it, desperately.