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reece

Beach Lover
Jul 12, 2005
114
7
I thought that the dune lake sampling/monitoring was done on a monthly basis (http://sowal.com/coastal-dune-lakes-of-south-walton-county) as opposed to weekly. The beach water quality tests are done weekly. If that's the case, it may be misleading to say the lakes are fine unless they've done extra testing on the lakes, which I doubt.

However, if you take a look at the historical beach sampling results this is definitely unusual. For example, for both Grayton and Eastern Lake there are only a couple of moderate results in the last six years. No poors.

http://esetappsdoh.doh.state.fl.us/irm00beachwater/default.aspx

If you look at the other reports from Bay to Escambia counties, this is a wider spread issue than Walton County.


yes, i agree that it's wider spread than just walton county. that's what i said before. it doesn't look like septic tanks would be the issue since it's in pensacola as well, so like another poster said, i bet it is the flooding. i'm sure it will clear up and be back to normal soon. (although i don't really like the idea of the septic tanks being an issue! ick).

i too went back to the historical data after i posted this and was happy to find out that in the last 10 years, i don't think there has been an advisory at grayton! that's comforting and makes me feel like this is due to the flooding. TS Debby may or may not make matters worse though....
 

Scooter

Beach Fanatic
Mar 3, 2005
692
31
Atlanta, GA; New Orleans, LA
Like the deputy said when I spoke to him as he was leaving, "They're all out now but I don't know about two minutes from now." You can't cure stupid.

I would be more worried about the water quality, especially after this storm. So many people got violently ill this pasted week all along sowal with diarrhea and vomiting plus body aches from the high concentration of animal fecal matter in the gulf. One Walton county sheriff's deputy was in the fecal position for four days from this illness. My entire family was sick and spoke to many people in Grayton with the same symptoms. I will NEVER go back into the gulf again without checking with the walton county sheriff's office to check on water quality. Luckily, most of my family became ill at the end of our vacation. :angry:
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
I would be more worried about the water quality, especially after this storm. So many people got violently ill this pasted week all along sowal with diarrhea and vomiting plus body aches from the high concentration of animal fecal matter in the gulf. One Walton county sheriff's deputy was in the fecal position for four days from this illness. My entire family was sick and spoke to many people in Grayton with the same symptoms. I will NEVER go back into the gulf again without checking with the walton county sheriff's office to check on water quality. Luckily, most of my family became ill at the end of our vacation. :angry:

Sorry you got sick. How many people got violently ill and what makes you think it was from the water? Where did you swim?

What is the "fecal position"? :lol:

I know of a few people who got the crud this week and not from swimming. Could also be food related?
 

Scooter

Beach Fanatic
Mar 3, 2005
692
31
Atlanta, GA; New Orleans, LA
The inlet wasn't really opening up into the Gulf. The Gulf was at high tide pouring over the sandbar into the lake. The garbage you were referring to was mostly seaweed.

Kurt,

Sorry, I meant fetal position. I had a feeling you would think this was something other than the water. Call Walton County Sheriff's department and ask them what they announced on the beach on Friday. I was there. "Do not swim in the Gulf." "High levels of animal fecal matter have been tested in the Gulf." "One of my deputies has been in the, excuse me, "FETAL POSITION," for the last 4 days. This was in Grayton beach. I spoke with numerous people on Friday and found out many were sick with the same illness and all swam in the Gulf.
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
Kurt,

Sorry, I meant fetal position. I had a feeling you would think this was something other than the water. Call Walton County Sheriff's department and ask them what they announced on the beach on Friday. I was there. "Do not swim in the Gulf." "High levels of animal fecal matter have been tested in the Gulf." "One of my deputies has been in the, excuse me, "FETAL POSITION," for the last 4 days. This was in Grayton beach. I spoke with numerous people on Friday and found out many were sick with the same illness and all swam in the Gulf.

I hope that if we have lots of people getting sick and the authorities know what it is from and even one of their own got sick the beaches would be closed. If the Sheriff's office was out there telling people not to swim then I would like to know that before I call and get more details.
 
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James Bentwood

Beach Fanatic
Feb 24, 2005
1,495
606
IF water in the gulf made people sick then this is something more widespread than septic tanks. But I highly doubt it. Bacteria concentrations would have to be through the roof to make multiple people that sick.

My guess is a rapidly spreading stomach virus or food poisoning. Some bug spread at the red bar or some other local hotspots.
 

lenzoe

Beach Fanatic
I don't know if the Sheriff's Office would know the source of any contamination. The Florida DOH does the beach water quality monitoring and issues advisories if contamination hits a certain level. I would suspect the Sheriff's Office was the mechanism for posting/notification of the advisories.

I read a study somewhere that when high surf suspends upper layers of organic sediment in the water it can increase bacteria counts in the Gulf (especially around the Mississippi delta). Maybe the combination of high runoff and high surf had a double whammy effect. This settles down fairly quickly when the surf drops. On the other hand, I'm sure there have been other periods of high surf and high rain without producing poor water quality result tests, so I still think this is a puzzler.

I tried calling the DOH beach water sampling office to see if I could get more info, but the number posted on their web site didn't go through to a person.
 

NotDeadYet

Beach Fanatic
Jul 7, 2007
1,422
489
I was at the Blue Mountain beach access yesterday and a health dept sign was posted - swimming not recommended due to bacteria count. I would like to know when the next round of testing is, and when the results will be posted.
 

NotDeadYet

Beach Fanatic
Jul 7, 2007
1,422
489
Forgot to say, the sign was down on the beach, facing towards the water, and it wasn't very large. Maybe not the best place for it - you might not notice it until you were getting out of the water.
 
I hope that if we have lots of people getting sick and the authorities know what it is from and even one of their own got sick the beaches would be closed. If the Sheriff's office was out there telling people not to swim then I would like to know that before I call and get more details.
Was the sheriff's office verbally telling people about the contamination? There are not enough sheriffs to sit in enough places on the beach to warn each person as s/he walks onto the beach. Plus taxpayers pay for their time. It's a waste of money. I don't like signs, but signs should be posted for something this critical.

Not everyone has Internet access or even knows what website to go to for this info. Even if phone numbers are available for beach info, how many vacationers or residents are going to call to find out the latest beach quality stats everytime they go to the beach? It's like, should everytime before we drink water in South Walton, do we need to call Regional Utilities to see if it's safe? As a former customer of Regional Utilities, I got a call last week about the boil water advisory but I was in GA (and I no longer own that home)! Rental guests didn't get that phone call from them. Hopefully the rental management company called the guests.

Just my opinion.
 
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