Contaminated Beaches
By: Carolyn Scofield cscofield@wmbb.com
News 13 On Your Side
Mar 26, 2003


The blue flags are flying on Panama City Beach, but it might not be safe to go in the water.
The Bay County Health Department is warning of increased bacteria levels at seven local beaches.

The spots are Laguna Beach, Carl Grey Park, the Panama City Beach Pier, Bid-A-Wee Beach, Delwood Beach, Beach Drive, and the Dupont Bridge.

Anita Meyers and her children are relaxing on Bid-A-Wee Beach, but didn't know anything about the advisory.

“We had read it in the paper and saw it on the TV stations in Birmingham and in Sylacauga,” says the Alabama resident. “But as soon as we got here, we didn't hear anything about it. We haven't seen anything anywhere.”

In fact, News 13 couldn't find any health department signs at Bid-A-Wee Beach.

The City Pier is another place where health officials found increased bacteria in the water.

There's one sign at the pier-, but Jimmy Sharpe didn't see it.

“I saw the blue flags flying that says calm water,” he says. “I thought it would be alright.”

Sharpe says the health department needs to post larger signs to make sure swimmers are aware of the risks.

Meyers says the rest of her vacation might be spent out of the water.

“I know what a bacterial infection can do, what it can do to the human body,” says Meyers. “So I may be more cautious now and just stay at the swimming pool.”

The Health Department says they are aware of the problem with the temporary signs.

Officials say sometimes people take them down or they just disappear, and Health Department officials say they are designing some permanent signs to be posted along the beaches.

Health officials tested the waters again on Monday to see if the bacteria levels have decreased.

The results should be back Thursday.

I saw that on the news the other night... apparently all of the rain we've had recently has created more water runoff than the beach is equipped for... I'll see if they mention test results on the news tonight.

The water quality of the beaches is back to normal. The only one that still has a high bacteria count is Carl Gray Park (which is beside Gulf Coast Community College)... and that one will probably be fine within a couple days.