Clean Water Network Florida

Clean Water Network of Florida

Clean Beaches

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What's up with Florida's waters?

Beaches - every year, tens of millions of people gather up their children, load up their hats, umbrellas, swimmies and life-jackets, pack the sun-screen, pile into the car, snap on their seat belts and make their way to a Florida beach. They find a good spot on the beach near the life-guard stand and everyone runs to the water and jumps into that beautiful warm water. So much care is taken to protect ourselves and our families from the sun, car accidents, sharks and drowning, but we don't even stop to think about the safety of the water. The sad truth is that frequently, at many Florida beaches, the water is unsafe to swim in. It is contaminated with bacteria and other pathogens that can make us sick and in rare cases even threaten our lives.

In 1999 the Clean Water Network of Florida spearheaded legislation to get regular water quality monitoring at all of Florida's beaches. A Healthy Beaches bill was passed and the program began in August 2000, with beach water sampling every two weeks at beaches in 34 coastal counties. In 2002 the program was expanded to a weekly program. Every summer, the Clean Water Network of Florida releases a report that tells which beaches are safe to swim at and which ones are contaminated.

Our goal is to get these beaches cleaned up. Here are a few things we are doing:

  • Every year we lobby the legislature for better laws to protect our beaches from sewage and stormwater;
  • We sued the US EPA in 2003 for allowing Florida DEP to redefine pollution and declare many polluted waters CLEAN! We won! And we are fighting to get polluted waters cleaned up.
  • We bring media attention to the pollution problems on our beaches and bring the public together to push for better water quality policies.

Testing the Waters 2005

Testing the Waters 2004

  • Florida press release announcing the release of NRDC's annual "Testing the Waters Report."
  • More information, plus the complete report are available on the NRDC website.
  • Read the beach report newsclips.

Testing the Waters 2003

Testing the Waters 2002

  • Florida press release announcing the release of NRDC's annual "Testing the Waters Report."
  • National press release announcing the release of NRDC's annual "Testing the Waters Report."
  • More information, plus the complete report are available on the NRDC website.
  • Read the beach report newsclips.

Testing the Waters 2001

  • Press release announcing the release of NRDC's annual "Testing the Waters Report."
  • Read the beach report newsclips.

Testing the Waters 2000

  • Press release announcing the release of NRDC's annual "Testing the Waters Report."

FL Healthy Beaches Program

In August 2000, Florida's "Healthy Beaches Program" expanded to include 34 counties. The program sets standards for regular beach monitoring. For more information, go to the website.

Beach Closings and Advisories

The Florida Coastal Management Program (FCMP) has created the management tool FACT (Florida Assessment of Coastal Trends) to help in dealing with the future of Florida's coastal areas. Their webpage FACT covers topics such as "Impact of Growth in the Coastal Zone", "Disruption of Coastal Physical Processes" and "Responding to Coastal Threats and Hazards." Includes section on beach closings and advisories as well as references to NRDC's "Testing the Waters" report.

State of the Coast Report

Utilizing the information gathered in the FACT report (see above), the Florida Coastal Management Program and the Florida Dept. Community Affairs have put together a "State of the Coast Report." Visit their website for more info, or to read the report.