Are our nation's beaches safe to swim in?

July 9, 8:02 PMTampa Wellness ExaminerTracy Woolrich, RN HHP

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                                       A.P. PHOTO/DAMIAN DOVARGANES

Retrospectively for the third consecutive year, the nation’s coastal and Great Lakes beaches were open 95 percent of the time during the swimming season in 2008 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in its annual beach report in June 2009.

In addition this report also shows that state and local governments continue to show improvement in notifying the public about beach water quality. This is accomplished through the states use of their EPA grant funds to gather and share beach water quality information with beachgoers to help them make more informed decisions. Here in Florida we have the Florida’s Healthy Beaches Program.

To date, EPA has awarded more than $82 million in BEACH Act grants to help protect beachgoers from dangers in the water.

For more information about the report and EPA’s beach program go to: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches

Here locally, according to the Florida Department of health, the Pinellas County Saltwater Advisory has been lifted for the Courtney Campbell Beach in Pinellas County. This was based on testing received on July 8th, 2009. The Pinellas County Health Department lifted the advisory based on the EPA's recommended marine water bacteria indicator for coliform.

As I indicated in my article on the subject last week, the health department conducts saltwater beach testing through the Healthy Beaches Monitoring Program. Water samples are analyzed for enteric bacteria (both fecal coliform and enterococci) that normally inhabit human and animal intestinal tracts, and may cause human disease, infections or rashes.

The presence of enteric bacteria is an indication of fecal pollution, which may come from storm water run-off, pets, wildlife and sewage. The waters of Courtney Campbell Beach were sampled June 29, 2009 and again on July 1, 2009. The levels were deemed unsafe and therefore the beach was remained closed over the 4th of July weekend.

For more information about Florida’s Healthy Beaches Program go to : Florida Healthy Beaches

Healthy Blessings,

Tracy Lynn