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HEALTH ADVISORY Sandoway Still Testing Poor, All Other Advisories Lifted

By Communications Office

April 13, 2023

Contact: 561-671-4014

CommunicationsOffice

Chd50Contactus@flhealth.gov

 

Palm Beach County, FL—The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County HEALTH ADVISORY for Sandoway is still in place after a recent sampling showed bacterial levels in the water to be more than 71 colonies per milliliter of marine water putting it in the poor range. All other advisories have been lifted.

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 at http://palmbeach.floridahealth.gov and click on “beach water quality”.

*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 4-12-2023 - resample

Site

Name

City

Enterococci

Water Quality

Status

1

Dubois Park

Jupiter

N/A

Moderate

Satisfactory

2

Jupiter Beach Park

Jupiter

N/A

Good

Satisfactory

3

Carlin Park

Jupiter

N/A

Good

Satisfactory

4

Riviera Beach

Riviera Bch

N/A

Good

Satisfactory

5

Phil Foster

Riviera Bch

N/A

Moderate

Satisfactory

7

Palm Beach Municipal

Palm Beach

N/A

Good

Satisfactory

8

Lake Worth- Kreusler

Lake Worth

<10

Good

Satisfactory

9

Ocean Inlet Park

Ocean Ridge

<10

Good

Satisfactory

10

Boynton Beach

Ocean Ridge

<10

Good

Satisfactory

12

Sandoway-Delray Bch

Delray Bch

266

Poor

Advisory

13

Spanish River

Boca Raton

<10

Good

Satisfactory

14

South Inlet Park

Boca Raton

<10

Good

Satisfactory

15

Lantana Beach

Lantana

N/A

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.

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