The Rhode Island Department of Health recommends closing three beaches for swimming ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Beaches include the Surfers Rock area of ​​Second Beach in Middletown, Sandy Point Beach in Portsmouth and Conicut Point Beach in Warwick.

The health department recommended closing due to high bacterial levels in the water.

The Department of Health also recommended closing Scarborough State Beach-South in Narragansett on Thursday, but recommended reopening on Friday afternoon.

Statistics from the Department of Health’s website show that the recent closures mean the state will lose about 160 days of beaches before the recommended closures this summer. This is the highest number since 2009 when 230 beaches were lost, but the state is now monitoring more beaches, according to the Ministry of Health.

This is the second year the Department of Health has monitored freshwater beaches, rather than relying on beach managers to monitor water quality, according to Department of Health spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth. Most of the recommended closures of 100 days or more this year were for Tamsui beaches, she said.

The state monitors beach water quality from Memorial Day to Labor Day. “Historically, beach closures in Rhode Island have been closely linked to precipitation from stormwater runoff,” the Department of Health said on its website.