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Rebecca Griffith Goard

Beach Comber
Aug 26, 2012
5
0
Atlanta
Very concerned about the waterquality situation...

Thanks to all the previous posters who have posted about the poor water quality on many 30-A beaches. I am concerned about this problem and am considering moving our family vacation to PCB (which i would HATE to do). But all of the surrounding counties have great reports - what is going on with Walton County and why can't this mess get cleaned up, literally?
 

Rebecca Griffith Goard

Beach Comber
Aug 26, 2012
5
0
Atlanta
Kurt,

I am heartbroken thinking I might have to cancel my trip down there to Adagio in a couple of weeks due to this poor water quality. With 2 small children, I'm afraid to have them in these waters if they are not testing well. Why are all the reports testing poor? Bay, Santa Rosa and all the other panhandle counties look great. I don't want to have to vacation anywhere else - :sosad:

What's your perspective?

Thanks,
Rebecca

Are you sure it's not sulfur? We have a lot of that in our water around here. Smells more like rotten eggs.

There are a lot of septic tanks in Gulf Trace though. Usually the gulf current is east to west. Also after a storm other stuff gets stirred up from creeks, wetlands, and lakes.

I think I'll go check it out.
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
I'm perplexed. We have some septic tanks on the lakes and on the beach (and I have been adamant about their removal) but we've never had bad gulf water quality before, at least not consistently that I recall. I don't know if the testing has changed, or the environment. This thread has about the best info you'll find although a lot of it is speculation.

It is concerning and I don't mean to make light of it but I have spent my entire life swimming in bodies of water all over the world that are full of trillions of animals doing a lot more than just pooping in the water. When you start thinking about the processes of life going on in the gulf, from birth to death, the imagination will wander on ya.

I will be swimming in the gulf later today and if I never post again...
 

PC

Beach Lover
Aug 15, 2005
113
10
TN
Hate to hear this, does anybody know if its just as bad toward seacrest and rosemary beaches? Heading down Friday.
Thanks


Kurt, if we don't hear from you again, we will miss you...
 
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James Bentwood

Beach Fanatic
Feb 24, 2005
1,495
606
I've been around several lakes the last few days. There is definitely a lot of sulfur and swamp gas. I think that's where the smell is coming from. A summer's worth of hot semistagnant water coming out of the wetland swampy areas. Some of the lakes were backed up for quite awhile. Might also explain some of the results.
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
We ended up at Deer Lake State Park it was beautiful! The gulf and lake seemed normal. Crossing the swampy area between the parking lot and dunes was interesting. The swamp was a bit naturally stinky. I hope to get by Grayton today and will let you know what I see, smell, taste and feel.

At dusk we saw 2 owls perched on a dead tree scanning the dunes for endangered Choctawhatchee Beach Mice, or whatever else they might find for dinner. It was too dark for us to see anything on the sand but I bet those owls could see the tiniest movement.
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
After visiting many outflows, creeks, bayous, lakes, bay, and gulf recently I can tell you that we have a ton of water flowing from land to waterways. Wetlands, swamps, parking lots, and ditches are overflowing. We have a lot of natural sulfur in our groundwater and a lot of rotting vegetation. It does smell like sewage but I'm confident it's not. Even if it was the volume of water would have flushed anything out long ago.

As far as I can tell the only thing that's changed around here is an increase in visitors overall. But it's not like the homes that have septic tanks haven't had full summers before. And there hasn't been an increase in septic tanks near the beach. Now if testing has changed then ...

If the water quality results look bad only in the high season and neighboring counties are truly different then we need to proceed with removing all septic tanks on the lakes and beaches. I've always thought we should be doing that anyway.
 
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