Published August 13, 2003
WASHINGTON – Beach closings and health warnings because of pollution declined last year even as local officials were more vigilant in monitoring shorelines, an environmental group reported Wednesday.
The number of beach closures and advisories in 2002 declined by 9 percent from a year earlier, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in its 13th annual assessment of beach water quality.
Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency and its own information gathering, the group said there were at least 12,184 closings and swimming advisories at ocean, bay, Great Lakes and some freshwater beaches in 2002. That was down from a record 13,410 closings and advisories in 2001.
Some 87 percent of the closures and advisories were issued because monitoring revealed the presence of unhealthy bacteria with fecal contamination.
Swimmers and surfers were whisked out of the water when suspicious orange-green goop – later determined to be algae – washed up on Brevard beaches in July, but the county's chief lifeguard said the procedures were not considered beach closures.
"I've never seen the beaches closed in the 10 years that I've been a lifeguard here," said Wyatt Werneth, chief lifeguard for Brevard Public Safety.
He said lifeguards may decide to "red flag" a beach – take the swimmers out of the water – if there is a potential hazard such as sharks, jellyfish, or some unidentifiable floating debris.
"And that happens pretty often," Werneth said.
The county health department never has closed the beaches, department director Dr. Heidar Heshmati said.
"We check for bacteria to see if there is sewage or fecal material, which is what state regulations require," Heshmati said. "And we have not had any unsatisfactory results in the five years we've been checking for it."
Florida Today staff writer Enrique Heredero contributed to this report.