Gulf Water Quality Results

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 -

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.

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...

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...

Relax, folks. Clorexit causes false positive fecal coliform elevation on water tests. They're still sprayin' man, I seen them!

Relax, folks. Clorexit causes false positive fecal coliform elevation on water tests. They're still sprayin' man, I seen them!

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, did you make it back? Any thoughts?

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.

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.

Relax, folks. Clorexit causes false positive fecal coliform elevation on water tests. They're still sprayin' man, I seen them!

I was thinking that was a cause of the water tests, but I am too busy to check the research.

Two new class preps this fall. I'm drowning in work. When one is a professor in the area in which I teach, one has to teach subject matter that didn't exist when I was in grad school. It's fun learning new stuff, but it is very time consuming. My colleagues in math don't get it. They are all teaching stuff they learned as an undergrad.

Thanks for the info.

Just so others know. On the "clorexit" spraying, he was actually joking.

Just so others know. On the "clorexit" spraying, he was actually joking.

Of course. I am such a sucker.

Of course. I am such a sucker.

Not any more than I. I thought you were just continuing the joke and was just commenting for others before the black helicopter crowd got into full swing.

I haven't gone full throttle on the corexit theory (although the name, alone, kinda gives you chills), but it wouldn't surprise me that there are natural, human made contaminants (RE: septic tanks) that might be leeching into our beautiful waters, causing problems...enuff said.

The health dept sign at my access has disappeared. This is quite worrisome given the water quality results lately.

Did they take them away so the tourists didn't get scared off?

They haven't posted any sampling results since just before Isaac. If the poor results are tied to runoffs, I'm sure Isaac didn't help.

They haven't posted any sampling results since just before Isaac. If the poor results are tied to runoffs, I'm sure Isaac didn't help.

The latest beach water samples from Grayton Beach to Inlet Beach are not encouraging. When compared with the results from all FL coastal counties, South Walton seems to have a localized problem. Hopefully, the county, Watercolor, Seaside, Watersound, Alys and Rosemary are conducting intensive investigations of the causes, so that remedies can be implemented before the situation adversely affects the tourist and second home markets.

Results from yesterday, 9/10, are up. Wildernester is correct, not encouraging.

http://esetappsdoh.doh.state.fl.us/irm00beachwater/beachresults.aspx?county=Walton

What's around Holly Street? The bacteria count there is over 1000. And Eastern Lake is around 750. These are higher than ever.

This morning around 7 I was driving down 30a and noticed that the red light and alarm at the Holly St lift station were going off. Hard to miss it, the alarm sounds like a fire alarm.
I was a bit suspicious of this lift station and now am doubly so.

I happen to also be aware of two septic tanks very close to Holly St. One of them is a vacation rental that sleeps ten.

I wonder how many septic tanks are still left in that neighborhood, which has quite a few older properties. I love the old Florida cottages and hate to see them go the way of the Villas, but they should be on sewer, or at the very least have their drain fields inspected.

Likewise Eastern Lake. How many septics are left around there?
I can hardly believe with all the rain and the high lake level and water table that any are functioning as intended.

Good points.

The lift station is for sewer and is not related to septic tanks. The alarm goes off if power goes out, etc. I believe. Any central sewer system is going to have maintenance issues and usually is only a major problem if a line breaks and really gushes.

I agree that all septic tanks should be removed. It's hard to force people to pay for their removal and to pay to hook up to sewer. Price breaks have been offered to help but most homeowners won't do it.

Septic tanks were allowed in the old days when there was hardy anyone was here and some homes were empty most of the year. They are still allowed in places where there is no sewer but I don't think that would be anywhere near the lakes or beaches.

Last year there was a bill to require septic tank inspections in Florida but there was an outcry and it was repealed. There are a lot of poor folks on septic systems and to make them pay several hundred dollars a year for inspections was seen as a burden.

I doubt inspections would make a difference if your septic tank is on a lake or the beach.

If the issue starts causing people to lose revenue then maybe something will change.

I happen to also be aware of two septic tanks very close to Holly St. One of them is a vacation rental that sleeps ten.

That's interesting. I always thought the septic vs. sewer connection issue was mainly due to the house being out of reach of county sewer. If it's running right next to you and you remain on septic, that doesn't seem right.

Water quality

Anyone else worried about the water quality in gulf? I just received the water sampling results and there are health advisories AGAIN. This has been going on since June- recently in Grayton and blue mountain seems like there have been health advisories for the water since August. Can't blame it on the rain b/c we haven't had any-- is the county trying to figure out WHY?

http://www.waltonoutdoors.com/walto...street-eastern-lake-and-inlet-beach-accesses/

I think these results are even worse than when it was raining.

We should start calling our commissioners tomorrow morning.

I agree- this is very concerning.