good news for swimmers

Taipei Times: Taipei exodus marks start of long weekend

With an eye on the long weekend, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) had conducted its water quality inspections this year of 12 of the nation’s most popular swimming spots.
The survey placed all 12 in the EPA’s “superior” category in terms of water quality.
The results represent a drastic improvement from last year’s beach water quality checks. An inspection of 10 destinations in June last year placed just one beach — Taipei County’s New Jinshan Bathing Beach (新金山) — in the “superior” category, while four had “good” water quality, two were ranked as average and three were rated as not suitable for swimming.
“On May 24 and 25 we inspected 10 popular beaches in Taiwan proper, and found all to have superior water quality suitable for swimming,” said Chu Yu-chi (朱雨其), director-general of the EPA’s department of environmental monitoring and information management.
Water quality at beaches is defined by the amount of E. coli bacteria in the water, Chu said.
“Those with E. coli concentrations of less than 1,000 colony-forming units (CFU) are defined as suitable for swimming,’” he said.
Besides New Jinshan, the beaches inspected this year include Baishawan (白沙灣) and Fulong (福隆) in Taipei County, Tunghsiao (通霄) in Miaoli County, Shanyuan (杉原) in Taitung County, Masago (馬沙溝) in Tainan County, Sizihwan (西子灣) and Cijin (旗津) in Kaohsiung City, Kenting Tiaoshih Recreational Seashore (墾丁跳石) in Pingtung County, Chisingtan (七星潭) in Hualien County, Houhu (後湖) on Kinmen and Shanshui (山水) in Penghu County.

ok, "my" beach isn't on the list, that's cos it's not a "swimming beach",
cos you cannot actually swim on a "swimming beach"
since they have a permitted area fenced off which are full of non-swimmers

but the overall status is good
so just go find yourself another beach
(but not one with life guards,
cos those jobsworth REALLY won't let you swim
like the two who threatened to arrest me near Hualien last month)