Health Advisory Six Beaches – Tested Poor

By Communications Office

Contact:
561-671-4014
CommunicationsOffice
Chd50Contactus@FLHealth.gov

Palm Beach County, FL—The Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County has issued a HEALTH ADVISORY for Lake Worth-Kreusler, Ocean Inlet Park, Boynton Beach, Sandoway, Spanish River, and South Inlet Park after recent sampling showed bacterial levels in the water to be more than 71 colonies per milliliter of marine water putting them in the poor range.

Causes of the elevated level that prompted the advisory are unknown but heavy rains, high surf, and heavy traffic can contribute. Generally poor ratings are associated with wildlife, heavy recreational usage, high surf from high winds and high tides or runoff following heavy rains.

DOH-Palm Beach always encourages rinsing with fresh water after swimming in any natural body of water.

Health department staff samples the beach waters at 13 locations from Boca Raton to Jupiter for enterococci as recommended by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA. The samples are laboratory tested for concentrations and a value assigned to indicate poor, moderate, or good ranges. Beach water quality for Palm Beach County and throughout the state can be found on the DOH “beach water quality” page.

*A Poor rating may result in a resampling event to confirm poor conditions; otherwise, a Health Advisory will be issued immediately. These indicate that contact with the water at this site may pose increased risk of infectious disease, particularly for susceptible individuals

Beach Action Values (BAV) Enterococcus Results Description

Date of Sample 4-10-2023

Site	Name	City	Enterococci	Water Quality	Status
1	Dubois Park	Jupiter	52	Moderate	Satisfactory
2	Jupiter Beach Park	Jupiter	<10	Good	Satisfactory
3	Carlin Park	Jupiter	20	Good	Satisfactory
4	Riviera Beach	Riviera Bch	10	Good	Satisfactory
5	Phil Foster	Riviera Bch	52	Moderate	Satisfactory
7	Palm Beach Municipal	Palm Beach	10	Good	Satisfactory
8	Lake Worth- Kreusler	Lake Worth	175	Poor	Advisory
9	Ocean Inlet Park	Ocean Ridge	98	Poor	Advisory
10	Boynton Beach	Ocean Ridge	110	Poor	Advisory
12	Sandoway-Delray Bch	Delray Bch	109	Poor	Advisory
13	Spanish River	Boca Raton	146	Poor	Advisory
14	South Inlet Park	Boca Raton	417	Poor	Advisory
15	Lantana Beach	Lantana	<10	Good	Satisfactory

United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recommended criteria for enterococci is:

Good = 0-35 Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water Moderate = 36-70 Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water

Poor = 71 or greater Enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water 36 or greater enterococci per 100ml of marine water as a geometric mean over a five-week period.

An Advisory is issued for a beach that samples in the “Poor” range of the EPA standards. This should be considered a potential health risk to the bathing public.