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Water Quality Improves on 7 of 11 Bay Beaches

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

Aug. 10--Tests on water samples drawn Monday cleared seven of 11 local beaches slapped with health advisories and warnings last week when high bacteria levels were detected.

Four local testing sites -- Rick Seltzer Park, Carl Gray Park, Beach Drive and the DuPont Bridge -- remain under warning or advisory.

The Bay County Health Department tests 13 sites each Monday for fecal coliform and enterococcus bacteria. Results are posted the following day.

The bacteria are found in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals and do not normally cause illness. However, high readings indicate that other disease-causing microorganisms could be present.

Warnings are issued when fecal coliform counts exceed 400 organisms per 100 milliliters of water, and advisories are issued when enterococcus counts are over 104 specimens per 100 milliliters of water.

Although Health Department officials warn against swimming in areas with high bacteria counts, many ignore it or are unaware of the water-monitoring system. Swimmers dotted the blue-green waters off Panama City Beach last week after warning signs were posted.

Drenching rains were blamed for the problems last week. From July 29-31, 3.64 inches of rain fell. Samples were collected Aug. 1.

Environmental Health Director Ralph Miller said 1.3 inches of rain fell the day before tests were taken last week. Those rains, he said, could have contributed to the high readings.

On Sunday, the day before the most recent water samples were drawn, only .38 inches of rain fell, even though a total of 5.01 inches fell during the sevenday period before the test.

"Even though there was over the week more rainfall, in the days previous to our sampling (rainfall) dropped down compared to the previous week," Miller said.

Rains are blamed for washing into area waters fecal matter including animal droppings and septic tank runoff that could cause bacterial levels to surge. Miller said previous rains have likely flushed away most of the contaminating matter, another reason why bacteria levels are going down. He was not surprised by this week's results.

"I felt that probably most of the bacteria would have been flushed out even though we did get more rains this week," Miller said.

In addition, Miller said high water temperatures before last week's tests also could have contributed to the elevated bacteria levels.

Three of the sites that remain under warning or advisory -- Beach Drive, the DuPont Bridge and especially Carl Gray Park -- are the usual culprits for high bacterial levels, according to Miller.

Waters around Carl Gray Park are prone to contamination, Miller said, because the area is shallower than other testing sites and there is not as much "washing action" to dilute the water when storm runoff flows in.

Rick Seltzer Park, however, is the surprise of the foursome. Both a warning and advisory have been issued for the gulffront park. Testing sites east and west of the park showed normal bacterial levels this week.

"That one is not indicative of what it normally does," Miller said.

Marty McDaniel, a manager at Boardwalk Beach Resort on Thomas Drive, said he did not notice a decline in usual beach usage last week. However, he said this time of year there are more groups at the hotel than families on vacation.

"If we had this problem back in July, it might have been a different story," he said.

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Source: The News Herald

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