Poopy Water Warning Extended to Another Weekend

A largely empty beach at Crandon Park, on the weekend after the Independence Day holiday, July 7, 2018. The beach has suffered from a number of no-swim advisories because of fecal contamination (Key News/Tony Winton)

Weekend beachgoers will have to stay out of the water at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne until at least Monday because of high fecal bacteria levels, the Health Department said. 

Tests for the Key Biscayne Beach Club and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park beaches came up clear. 

The Health Department’s environmental chief, Samir Elmir, said continued testing showed that bacteria levels were so high, they could not be counted. The no-swim advisories will now also include Crandon’s North Beach in addition to South Beach, he said. Testers also reported strong rotten-egg smells at the beach. 

The extension until Monday means that beaches will have been under no-swim advisories for 11 consecutive days. Temperatures are forecast to remain in the high 80s through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. 

The bacterial problems at Crandon recently caused the beach to be ranked among the state’s dirtiest, according to the group Environment America. Crandon ranked as the third-dirtiest in the state and the dirtiest in South Florida, with 17 “potentially unsafe” days in 2018. 

Miami Waterkeeper researcher Andrew Carter said the longest warning period in recent times was a 12-day stretch in September. He noted that because of the way tests are scheduled, it’s hard to be certain of water quality on days samples are not collected. 

Also of concern: huge flows of sargassum seaweed on beaches that have been linked to higher fecal bacteria counts in sand. 

The source of the enterococci bacteria has not been conclusively determined. It can come from both human and animal waste as sell as stormwater runoff.