Beach Warnings: By The Numbers

By CORRIE BENFIELD

Published: Aug 20, 2007

Nationwide, public beaches were unsafe for swimming a record number of days in 2006, according to a report released this month by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental action group. It also noted that the number of no-swim days caused by overflowing sewage systems doubled from 2005. The report includes data from the Environmental Protection Agency on 3,500 beaches along oceans, bays and the Great Lakes.

Although Florida did not make the group's Beach Buddies list, we managed to avoid the Beach Bums list. In Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, three beaches passed the water tests with flying colors, not once exceeding pollution standards in 2006. Overall, 42 percent of monitored Florida beaches aced the water tests last year.

Fecal What?

Fecal coliform and enterococcus bacteria normally are found in human and animal intestinal tracts. When waters have high concentrations of these bacteria, swimmers can catch diseases or develop infections or rashes. Often, the water is tainted through stormwater runoff, human sewage, or pets and wildlife. All of Florida's advisories in 2006 were attributed to elevated levels of bacteria from unknown sources.

Monitoring

•In deciding which beaches to monitor, counties consider the population served, the pollution potential and rainfall.

•Local health departments in 34 coastal counties monitor nearly half of the beaches in Florida.

•The peak monitoring season is from April to mid-September.

Warnings

•Florida follows the Environmental Protection Agency's standards for declaring coastal waters unhealthy for humans.

•If a sample exceeds the standards, an advisory is issued. If the county can do a follow-up sample in the same week, it delays issuing an advisory until the second set of results confirms the findings.

•Sometimes counties automatically issue warnings when it rains a certain amount. At Maximo Beach and North Shore in Pinellas County, pre-emptive warnings are issued if it rains 0.8 inch or 1 inch, respectively, in 24 hours.

•Most counties will warn against swimming after a sewage spill until sampling results are satisfactory.

•After a hurricane or tropical storm comes ashore, precautionary advisories are issued.

BY THE NUMBERS

634

Public coastal beaches in Florida

285

Advisories issued for Florida beaches in 2006

2,686

Beach advisory days in Florida in 2006

25,000

Estimated number of advisory days nationwide in 2006

1

Number of times per week waters are tested

18

Depth (in inches) of water from which samples are collected

30

Hours it takes for health departments to receive results of samples

SEE FOR YOURSELF

Want to check on the status of area beaches? Click here.