All beaches on South Shore open

The temperature's high and the bacteria counts are low on all beaches from Quincy to Plymouth.

Smith Beach in Braintree has reopened after passing a water quality test on Thursday. It closed earlier this week for the second time this summer after registering bacteria levels twice as high as the maximum considered safe for swimming, but samples taken on Thursday came back clean.

See water quality test results for each community and for Cape Cod, the South Coast and North Shore.

For more on Quincy beaches, call 617-376-1288, or visit tinyurl.com/ledger-quincy-beaches. For more on Wollaston Beach, call 617-626-4972.

Seventy-five salt water beaches on the South Shore are tested for enterococci, intestinal bacteria found in humans and animals. High levels of enterococci indicate the waters may also contain other disease-causing microbes that are present in sewage but are more difficult to detect. Bacterial colonies are filtered from three ounces of water and placed on a gel infused with nutrients and chemicals designed to promote growth. Left in an incubator, the single cells isolated on the filter grow explosively, forming colonies visible to the naked eye.After one day, the colonies are counted and if they exceed 104 colonies, the beach is closed to swimming.

Source: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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All beaches on South Shore open

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