Just in time for the July 4th weekend, the National Resources Defense Council is advising beachgoers to beware. “Our nation’s beaches continue to suffer from bacterial pollution that puts swimmers at risk,” the environmental group says. Last year was the second-worst for beach closings and health warnings in the 21 years that the group has been tracking the issue, with 24,091. The problem: bacteria that sickens as many as 3.5 million Americans each year with illnesses like skin rashes, pink eye, meningitis and hepatitis.  Children are especially vulnerable, the NRDC report says. Talk about raining on the parade. And that’s part of the point: David Beckman, NRDC’s Water Director, tells USA Today that would-be beachgoers should

hold off after a rainstorm, when bacteria can flourish in the water. A big culprit is “aging and poorly designed sewage treatment systems” that send contaminated stormwater toward beaches, NRDC says. Beckman advises beachgoers, in addition to packing sunscreen, to check a beach’s water quality monitoring. The NRDC report provides such a resource, ranking the water quality as well as the water quality testing of 3,300 beaches across the U.S. Tops  on its list are two in Delaware, and one in Minnesota and one in New Hampshire. Now there’s another thing to worry about during summer vacation aside from traffic.

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It’s not just the sun that beachgoers should worry about