Brevard: How do you know if the water where you are swimming is safe?

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How do you really know whether the water you're wading in, swimming or paddling in is safe?
Should you even let your dog drink it?
The risks make headlines every summer: bacteria from sewage or wildlife; toxins from algae that's already sickening manatees, dolphins and even alligators; rare, strange brain-eating amoebas; and emerging pathogens strengthening to "superbugs" due to antibiotic resistance.
These risks tend to spike after heavy rains wash bacteria and nutrients from wildlife droppings and human sources from the land. So health departments periodically pull water samples from the beach surf zone during warmer months. But results aren't ready for a few days, so surfers and swimmers often don't know how much bacteria was in the water until after the fact.
It's always swim at your own risk in Florida. But the following resources can help you check the chronic problem areas and make an informed choice on which days are safest for you and yours to take a dip:
From March through September, this program samples the surf zone for bacteria at 10 Brevard beaches and at other beaches statewide every two weeks, posting the results on its website: www.floridahealth.gov/environmental-health/beach-water-quality/. But they only test during warmer months, when bacteria growth is higher and there are more people on the beach.
On May 27, Jetty Park tested "moderate" for enterococcus bacteria.
Enterococcus bacteria lives in the gut of humans and other animals. Its presence can indicate other, more dangerous bacteria in the water.
Health officials measure the number of colony-forming units (CFU) of enterococcus per 100 milliliters of water sample. A sample is "good," if 35 or less CFUs.
A "moderate" level is 36 to 70 enterococcus CFUs. Higher than that is a "poor" result, which triggers health officials to retest.
A health advisory for bacteria in the water means that contact with the water may increase risk of skin, ear, eye, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections.
The nonprofit Surfrider also tests for bacteria in local waters. You can check out local results on their online map. You can see Surfrider's water sampling results on their online map at https://bwtf.surfrider.org/explore/63/965.
The group's recently released its Clean Water Report identifies beach waters where bacteria hot spots across the country.
The group identified Ballard Park in Melbourne among the top 10 for bacteria hot spots due to the frequency of water samples failing to meet state health safety standards.
Last year, 52% of Ballard Park samples exceeded the state health standard for enterococci bacteria, the group says.
Vibrio vulnificus, one of the fastest growing bacteria known, is potentially deadly. It can enter the bloodstream via scratches and other open wounds. It is also a risk from eating raw oysters. You can learn about that risk at CDC's site: www.cdc.gov/vibrio/prevention/vibrio-and-oysters.html.
The risk of infection from water exposure is very rare but you can learn more at the state health department site: www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/vibrio-infections/vibrio-vulnificus/index.html
Last year, Titusville City Council unanimously approved a proposed $70,000 settlement agreement to resolve a lawsuit over a boy who became paralyzed after paddle boarding in the Indian River Lagoon near a city sewage spill in late 2020.
According to the suit, in late December of 2020 the boy went paddle boarding and swimming in the lagoon in Titusville, departing from his mother's house, 4.5 miles south of Sand Point Park in Titusville. He was in the water several times, according to the suit. But on Dec. 23, water samples downstream of the ponds' lagoon outfalls exceeded water quality criteria for E.coli bacteria.
In August 2011, 16-year-old Astronaut High student Courtney Nash of Mims died of the amoebic infection after swimming in the St. Johns River near the Brevard-Volusia county line.
Before her death, Brevard County's most recent Naegleria fowleri cases were a Port Malabar Elementary third-grader who swam at Max K. Rodes Park in West Melbourne in 2002 and a 6-year-old boy who was infected in 1980. Both children died.
Learn about it and other waterborne disease risks here: www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/food-and-waterborne-disease/waterborne-links.html
In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $9.7 million in grant funding that states, Tribes, and territories use to monitor recreational water quality and to notify the public if elevated levels of illness-causing bacteria make swimming unsafe. That includes $500,000 to Florida's Healthy Beaches Program.
Surfrider is warning of efforts by the federal government to cut funding to that program.
Waymer covers environment. Reach him at [phone] or [e-mail]. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: How to know if Brevard water you are swimming in is safe? Find data here.