Swimming at local beaches this year should present little to no health risk, according to information on the Virginia Department of Health’s beach monitoring website.

The water quality standard for Virginia public beaches calls for closure of beaches when water tests show bacteria levels above the benchmark of 104 CFUs (colony forming units) of bacteria per milliliter of sea water. Festival Beach in Mathews, Gloucester Point Beach, and Yorktown Beach all had levels of fewer than 10 CFUs per milliliter in tests conducted earlier this month.

As a matter of fact, most of Virginia’s 46 Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean beaches that are monitored weekly tested low on bacteria in their most recent tests, with readings ranging anywhere from 4 CFUs/ml to 63 CFUs/ml. Several beaches have had high readings in past weeks and had swimming advisories temporarily posted, but all beaches are currently open.

The bacteria that is tested for—enterococci bacteria—"serves a...