Published: July 25, 2002, Orlando Sentinel
Stung by the label of biggest "beach bum" in the nation, Brevard County officials Wednesday disputed the accuracy of a report that found the Space Coast has far more unmonitored, potentially polluted beaches than anywhere else.
The National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group in Washington, issued a report that called 70 places in the nation "beach bums." Forty are in Florida, and 34 of those are in Brevard County. Of the remaining six, Okaloosa and Gulf counties in northwest Florida have three each, the group said in its "Testing the Waters 2002" report.
John Pierce, a supervisor for Brevard County environmental health services, said the group's report is at turns wrong or misleading. For example, many of the "beaches" cited in the report aren't beaches at all. Some are parks on the Intracoastal Waterway that don't have swimming areas. Others are areas for launching boats.
"Some of them are absolutely not used for swimming," Pierce said. "They're not beaches. They're not on the Atlantic. "We think we have among the safest, if not the safest [beaches] in the world."
Pierce said the county routinely samples water quality at 10 beach locations, with good results for the past two years. He said he doesn't know of any pollution problems in Brevard's waterways. And if there were any, he said, they would be closely monitored.
Mark Dorfman, primary author of the environmental group's report, said the conclusions are based on reports voluntarily filed by local agencies with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Beaches that are not monitored for water quality and have a "known source of pollution in the vicinity" earn the group's "beach bum" label, according to the report.
Dorfman said it is possible that some potentially polluted beaches go unreported, or that Brevard's reporting was more complete.
"People, when they fill out surveys, don't necessarily answer all the questions," he said.
The report is designed to spark local governments to clean up their waterways. Last year, for example, Key West was tagged as having bum beaches. This year, though, the city was praised with a "beach buddy" award for modernizing its wastewater plant, reducing sewage discharge and planning for storm runoff.
Key West, however, had more water-quality problems than did Brevard County last year, according to the report. Health advisories were issued or beaches were closed in Monroe County 10 times last year, including four times near Key West, the report says. By comparison, Brevard County had one advisory at an inland lake, not a beach.
State Rep. Bob Allen, R-Merritt Island, said he doesn't think the "beach bum" labels will hurt Brevard's tourism, but he's still steamed over what he says are inaccuracies. After hearing of the report Wednesday, Allen urged a state tourism committee to issue a rebuttal.
Kevin P. Connolly can be reached at kconnolly@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7934.