It's been a while since my wife and I have taken a swim in the ocean...but if we do we'll definitely be checking reports of bacteria levels at the lifeguard station before going in. This has been a bad year for beach closures up and down our coast, from the Miami area to Vero.
STUART, Fla. (CBS12) —Three new beaches have been added to a growing list of those where high bacteria levels were reported. Health officials are now warning swimmers to stay out of the water at South Beach, Humiston Beach and Sexton Plaza Beach in Vero Beach. Photos taken over the weekend near the Sebastian Inlet also show what appears to be a large plume of dirty water. We typically see plumes of this foul-looking runoff near our inlets following severe weather like Hurricanes and tropical storms, which could make sense considering all the heavy rain we’ve recently been slammed with.
The issue continues to grow along our coastline with swim advisories issued because of high bacterial levels at beaches spanning from Lantana to Vero Beach; there were several closures issued just this month alone.