Palm Beach County,   FL—Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County has posted a “No Swimming Advisory” for Dubois Park’s Wading Lagoon after recent sampling showed bacterial levels in the water to be at 90 colonies per 100 milliliters of marine water putting it in the POOR range that requires an advisory.

Causes of the elevated level that prompted the advisory are unknown but are generally associated with wildlife, heavy recreational usage, or runoff following heavy rains.  The advisory cannot be canceled until resampling tests indicate the levels in the good to moderate range. 

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 www.flhealthpalmbeach.org  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:

GOOD  0-35 Enterococcus CFU per   100 ml of marine water

MODERATE  36-70 Enterococcus CFU   per 100 ml of marine water

POOR*(unsatisfactory)  71 or greater Enterococcus   CFU per 100 ml of marine water