Wallis Sands Beach at Wallis Road is a sandy beach located along the Atlantic Ocean in Rye, just south of Wallis Sands State Park. The surrounding beach community is a popular place for vacation rentals and summer homes. The swimming water is monitored for water quality twice a week from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

NOTICE: The town of Rye has been sampling the water seeping out of the sand when the tide is falling or low. regularly since summer 2014. Some extremely high values were seen in 2014. Although no elevated numbers have been detected yet this summer, the results from last summer were extremely variable-high one day and low the next. Since the samples take at least 24 hours to be processed, the town decided to err on the side of caution and post the beach all the time to let people know that in the tide pools/seeping water areas on the beach could have high levels of bacteria. It is not recommended to dig in the sand at that location.

The town of Rye employed sniffer dogs that can detect even low levels of bacteria specifically from human waste. The dogs detected human contamination in the water seepage area. The town is working on long term solutions to improve the situation.

However, all samples of water in the ocean at knee-high depth have been low in 2014 and so far in 2015. It appears as if the high bacteria concentrations are diluted in the ocean or dissipate before getting the ocean.

The description above was copied from or heavily based on Swim Guide, with permission.

More Information

• Swim Guide - Weather and water quality for Wallis Sands Beach at Wallis Road and 8,000 other beaches.