Help your beach

Pick up after your pet

Pick it up, bag it, and throw it in the trash. Contact with pet waste can make people sick and possibly cause disease. Also, nutrients from dog poop can feed the growth of aquatic plants and algae. As these decay, they use up oxygen in the water that fish and other aquatic life need.

Pick up your trash

When you visit the beach, bring along a litter bag so you can pack out whatever trash you create during your visit and dispose properly.

Help children keep water clean

Children should take frequent bathroom breaks. Diapers should be changed frequently, and a swim diaper should be worn while playing in or near the water. Dispose of diapers in the trash.

Swim only when well

Swimmers should stay out of the water when they are sick, especially with diarrhea. Protect yourself from unnecessary exposure or from transmitting illness-causing bacteria to others.

Boaters: don't discharge

Recreational boaters should discharge bilge water and sewage-holding tanks only in approved disposal facilities. See Washington State Pumpout Locations (at State Parks) for a map of where to pump. If you discharge into the water or near the beach, you can contribute to fecal bacteria in the water.

Anglers: put fish guts and heads in the trash; use bathroom facilities

When fishing, use appropriate bathroom facilities; human waste can cause disease. Dispose of fish entrails at designated areas or garbage cans. Fish entrails attract wildlife, increasing fecal waste on the beach.

Don’t feed wildlife

Birds and other animals will congregate in the feeding area, increasing wildlife waste on the beach.