Guide
Beach water: who samples, and what a posting means
Checked September 20, 2026 against the Department of Ecology’s BEACH Program: its 2026 beach list, its beach status map and its 2025 county reports.
A handful of saltwater beaches on these boards are tested for bacteria, in summer only. Ten on the north Olympic board, five around Bellingham and Birch Bay, one on Padilla Bay in Skagit County. None at all on the ocean beaches of Pacific County, and two points at Westport in Grays Harbor. Everywhere else, nobody is testing the water.
An unsampled beach is not a clean beach. It is a beach nobody looked at. Nobody samples La Push First Beach or Kalaloch Beach on the ocean, or Semiahmoo County Park at Blaine or Lighthouse Marine County Park at Point Roberts, Washington Park at Anacortes, Jackson Beach County Park at Friday Harbor or Odlin County Park on Lopez Island, Camano Island State Park, Kayak Point County Park near Stanwood, or Point Robinson County Park and Burton Acres County Park on Vashon, Point No Point Lighthouse Park at Hansville, Scenic Beach State Park at Seabeck, Salsbury Point County Park by the Hood Canal bridge, or, in Pierce County, Skansie Brothers Park at Gig Harbor, Chambers Creek Regional Park at University Place, Sequalitchew Creek beach at DuPont, the Fox Island Public Fishing Pier, Jacobs Point Park on Anderson Island or Penrose Point State Park at Longbranch, or in Thurston County Frye Cove County Park at Steamboat Island, Tolmie State Park at Johnson Point or Tumwater Historical Park below the falls, or in Mason County Lilliwaup State Park, Allyn Waterfront Park, Fair Harbor at Grapeview or Jarrell Cove State Park on Harstine Island. San Juan County has no sampled beach at all, and neither does Vashon. Pierce County has five, and a sixth place on Ecology’s map that is not on the sampling list at all: the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma carries a PERMANENT advisory, which is a standing warning rather than a weekly result, and the tile shows it as one. Olympia has two of the same — Squaxin Park and West Bay Park — and one sampled beach, Burfoot County Park at Boston Harbor. Mason County has three, all state parks on Hood Canal — Potlatch, Twanoh and Belfair — and a standing advisory of its own at Walker County Park on Oakland Bay. They carry a grey chip on the tile, and every other beach that is not on it has no result either, which is not the same as a good one.
After heavy rain, stay out for 24 to 48 hours, and away from discharge pipes, sampled beach or not. That is Ecology’s own advice, and no weekly sample can speak for the day after a storm.
Who samples
The Department of Ecology runs the state’s BEACH Program, which monitors “high-use, high-risk saltwater swimming beaches” with local and county health departments and volunteers. When a sample comes back high, it is the local health department that issues an advisory or a closure and puts up the signs.
At Neah Bay the beaches are the Makah Tribe’s own BEACH Program, on the Tribe’s land and its own schedule. Ecology’s map carries its results. (Ecology’s 2025 report notes the Makah programme did not sample that year; its five beaches are back on Ecology’s 2026 list.)
The season
Sampling runs from late May to Labor Day — 18 May to 7 September in 2026 — weekly at most beaches, every other week at some. Outside it, most beaches are simply not tested, and the tile says Season over for them rather than “no advisory”, because those are different facts. What stays on the map out of season is what is still posted: permanent advisories, and the Makah Tribe’s beaches.
The number behind an advisory
Every sample is tested for enterococcus, an indicator bacterium: not usually the thing that makes you ill, but a sign the water has had sewage or animal waste in it recently and may carry something that will.
| What | Number | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| One sample | over 104 enterococcus per 100 mL | A public swimming advisory is issued |
| The season’s run of samples | geometric mean 30 or more, or a statistical threshold value of 110 or more, per 100 mL | The beach is considered unsafe for swimming |
A permanent advisory is posted where the water is not good enough, often enough, for any single clean sample to mean much. Little Squalicum Park in Bellingham carries one: Ecology describes “consistent low to moderate bacteria levels, with occasionally high bacteria spikes.”
What the tile says
| Chip | Means |
|---|---|
| Advisory | Ecology’s map shows a water-contact advisory posted at this beach now. Its own sentence is printed under the chip. |
| Permanent advisory | A standing advisory, not a single bad sample. |
| Open | The map shows the beach open for water recreation. |
| Nothing posted | In season, the map shows nothing at this beach. |
| Season over | Sampling has stopped for the year. Nothing is known. |
Ecology’s map gives no date for a status. So the tile cannot say “since”; it prints Ecology’s own words for each beach and dates the whole tile by when the board last checked. A status Ecology words in a way the board has not seen before is shown as Check, never as green.
Every beach on the tile
North Olympic first, then Puget Sound from the border to Federal Way, with the town each one is filed under and who samples it (from Ecology’s 2026 list and its 2025 county reports), and last the ones the tile names because nobody samples them.
| Beach | Town, and who samples | Monitored |
|---|---|---|
| Hobuck Beach | Neah Bay; the Makah Tribe BEACH Program | Yes |
| Sooes Beach | Neah Bay; the Makah Tribe BEACH Program | Yes |
| Dakwas Park Beach, Neah Bay | Neah Bay; the Makah Tribe BEACH Program | Yes |
| Front Street Beach, East | Neah Bay; the Makah Tribe BEACH Program | Yes |
| Third Beach, Neah Bay | Neah Bay; the Makah Tribe BEACH Program | Yes |
| Salt Creek Recreation Area, Crescent Beach | Joyce; Clallam County | Yes |
| Cline Spit County Park | Sequim; Clallam County | Yes |
| Fort Worden State Park | Port Townsend; the Port Townsend Marine Science Center in 2025 | Yes |
| North Beach County Park | Port Townsend; Jefferson County | Yes |
| Mystery Bay State Park | Marrowstone Island, near Port Hadlock; Jefferson County, from mid-July in 2026 | Yes |
| Birch Bay County Park | Birch Bay; Whatcom County and volunteers | Yes |
| Little Squalicum Park | Bellingham; Surfrider volunteers | Yes |
| Taylor Dock at Boulevard Park | Bellingham; Whatcom County and volunteers | Yes |
| Marine Park, Bellingham | Bellingham; Whatcom County and volunteers | Yes |
| Larrabee State Park, Wildcat Cove | south of Bellingham on Chuckanut Drive; Surfrider volunteers | Yes |
| Bay View State Park | Padilla Bay, filed under Edison; Skagit County’s one sampled beach | Yes |
| Windjammer Park | Oak Harbor; under a permanent advisory | Yes |
| Dave Mackie Memorial County Park | Maxwelton, filed under Clinton | Yes |
| Freeland County Park, Holmes Harbor | Freeland | Yes |
| Edmonds Marina Beach Park | Edmonds; under a permanent advisory (the dog park) | Yes |
| Brackett’s Landing and the Edmonds Underwater Park | Edmonds | Yes |
| Howarth Park | Everett | Yes |
| Jetty Island | Everett, by the summer ferry | Yes |
| Mukilteo Lighthouse Park | Mukilteo | Yes |
| Picnic Point County Park | south of Mukilteo | Yes |
| Richmond Beach Saltwater Park | Shoreline | Yes |
| Carkeek Park | Seattle | Yes |
| Golden Gardens | Seattle, Ballard | Yes |
| Alki Beach Park | West Seattle | Yes |
| Richey Viewpoint | West Seattle, Beach Drive | Yes |
| Lincoln Park | West Seattle, by the Fauntleroy dock | Yes |
| Seahurst Park | Burien | Yes |
| Saltwater State Park | Des Moines | Yes |
| Redondo County Park | Redondo, filed under Des Moines | Yes |
| Dash Point State Park | Federal Way | Yes |
| Joel Pritchard Park | Bainbridge Island, Eagle Harbor | Yes |
| Fay Bainbridge Park | the island’s north end, filed under Suquamish | Yes |
| Pomeroy Park, Manchester Beach | Manchester, filed under Southworth | Yes |
| Silverdale Waterfront Park | Silverdale, on Dyes Inlet | Yes |
| La Push First Beach | La Push, the ocean | No |
| Kalaloch Beach | Kalaloch, the ocean | No |
| Semiahmoo County Park | Blaine (sampled until 2011) | No |
| Lighthouse Marine County Park | Point Roberts | No |
| Washington Park | Anacortes | No |
| Jackson Beach County Park | Friday Harbor | No |
| Camano Island State Park | Camano Island | No |
| Kayak Point County Park | Stanwood, on Port Susan | No |
| Odlin County Park | Lopez Island | No |
| Point Robinson County Park | Vashon, Maury Island | No |
| Burton Acres County Park | Vashon, Quartermaster Harbor | No |
| Point No Point Lighthouse Park | Hansville | No |
| Scenic Beach State Park | Seabeck, on Hood Canal | No |
| Salsbury Point County Park | by the Hood Canal bridge, filed under Kingston | No |
| Dash Point County Park | Browns Point, on Commencement Bay | Yes |
| Jack Hyde Park | Tacoma, the Ruston end of Ruston Way | Yes |
| Owen Beach | Tacoma, in Point Defiance Park | Yes |
| Titlow Park | Tacoma, on the Narrows | Yes |
| Thea Foss Waterway | Tacoma — a PERMANENT advisory, not a seasonal one | Yes |
| Sunnyside Beach Park | Steilacoom | Yes |
| Skansie Brothers Park | Gig Harbor | No |
| Chambers Creek Regional Park | University Place | No |
| Sequalitchew Creek beach | DuPont, on Nisqually Reach | No |
| Fox Island Public Fishing Pier | Fox Island, in Hale Passage | No |
| Jacobs Point Park | Anderson Island | No |
| Penrose Point State Park | Longbranch, on the Key Peninsula | No |
| Burfoot County Park | Boston Harbor, on Budd Inlet | Yes |
| Squaxin Park | Olympia, Priest Point — a PERMANENT advisory | Yes |
| West Bay Park | Olympia, the west shore of Budd Inlet — a PERMANENT advisory | Yes |
| Frye Cove County Park | Steamboat Island, on Eld Inlet | No |
| Tolmie State Park | Johnson Point, on Nisqually Reach | No |
| Tumwater Historical Park | Tumwater, below the falls | No |
| Potlatch State Park | Hoodsport, on Hood Canal | Yes |
| Twanoh State Park | Union, on the Great Bend | Yes |
| Belfair State Park | Belfair, at the head of the canal | Yes |
| Walker County Park | Shelton, on Oakland Bay — a PERMANENT advisory | Yes |
| Lilliwaup State Park | Lilliwaup | No |
| Allyn Waterfront Park | Allyn, on Case Inlet | No |
| Fair Harbor | Grapeview | No |
| Jarrell Cove State Park | Harstine Island | No |
Westport has two sampled points in Westhaven State Park, Half Moon Bay and the South Jetty, summer only. The Grays Harbor board does not carry a beach tile for them: for nine of its ten towns there is nothing nearer, and for eight months a year nothing at all. Pacific County has no sampled beach.
Sources
- Ecology’s safe swimming map — the status the board reads
- Ecology, 2026 beach list — which beaches are sampled this year
- Ecology, swimming standard and water quality — who issues advisories, and the advice after rain
- Ecology, 2025 Whatcom County report — the enterococcus numbers, and Little Squalicum
- Ecology, 2025 Clallam County report and Jefferson County report
- Ecology, May 2026 — the 2026 season dates