How clean is the water in Sarasota's beaches? (inspector, agricultural)

[atroxanautin]

Yeah, what angelfish said. Also, there is a reason why you can find a lot of info on Lake Apopka...lol

Also, those kind of tests are done a lot more in areas with water polluting industries (powerplants, oil refineries, etc). We really don't have those types of industries. Our biggest concerns are local run-off and septic system leaching.

I don't recall Siesta Key ever been called Florida's Cleanest Beach. They refer to the sand as clean, as it is.

[Scots]

Originally Posted by DixonCox

Why does Siesta Key Beach smell of rotten eggs? I have visited there twice this summer, and both times have smelled that sulfur smell.

It's hydrogen sulfide. Otherwise known as "low tide smell". It isn't from harmful chemicals. Caused by anaerobic bacteria growing in stagnant water. We can smell very low levels of it. If you really wanted that much info

[ZaraZoteBuccaneer]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

Hmmm...ok, well, I will try not to let my sense of humour enter into this reply. The Gulf, like the ocean is full of chemicals that are emitted during the transportation process. If you decided to accept the challenge & take a dip, it won't be any worse than breathing the air.

Lady, lady, lady...

[bjohns5647]

You all talk as if you stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night!

[YeahMon]

Originally Posted by Scots

It's hydrogen sulfide. Otherwise known as "low tide smell". It isn't from harmful chemicals. Caused by anaerobic bacteria growing in stagnant water. We can smell very low levels of it. If you really wanted that much info

Makes sense. Although the water is so clear, the algae must be minute. I asked someone there a few weeks ago, and they told me it was due to the shore property that was grandfathered in on the sewage. Some properties dump right into the water. I thought it would take an awfully big turd to smell that bad.

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by YeahMon

Why does Siesta Key Beach smell of rotten eggs? I have visited there twice this summer, and both times have smelled that sulfur smell.

I was there yesterday. Spent a week on the beach...no such smell that I could detect.

[ChessieMom]

Siesta Key is about the cleanest beach I have ever visited. It's a "Blue Wave" beach, so they take pains to keep it clean.

Blue Wave Beaches of Florida FL

[bocamom]

Thanks for your responses. I would prefer it if all of our coastal water were tested sporadically for things like atrazine and pcbs and rocket fuel additives.

Obviously, it is moving water, and, as Hereclitus said, one can never step into the same stream twice.

But I don't see how that premise leads to a conclusion that it shouldn't be tested. I also don't understand how one can know it is as clean as the air without some sort of data. I understand that you like it and want to promote it, but this is not a request for promotion and the question need not be marginalized.

There is a lot to be concerned about with the gulf if one is versed in such things. How are we supposed to know how much dilution works if we don't test? In the 70s the creed was "the solution to pollution is dilution" and that's when a lot of this infrastructure was built. I have been working with a professor who is doing fish research here on the Atlantic side who is finding a lot of feminized fish with high body levels of xenoestrogens - some of them strongly linked to breast cancer in humans. Having grown up swimming daily at the beach, this is disturbing. I am looking to relocate to the Sarasota area and enroll my son at Pine View, but I am trying to make sure I will like it there first, that's all. . . I need data, not promotion. I'm a difficult customer that way

[Scots]

Originally Posted by YeahMon

Makes sense. Although the water is so clear, the algae must be minute. I asked someone there a few weeks ago, and they told me it was due to the shore property that was grandfathered in on the sewage. Some properties dump right into the water. I thought it would take an awfully big turd to smell that bad.

It isn't from the clear water in the gulf. Usually it's stagnant brackish water like in a swamp. Could also be the same bacteria working on seaweed decomposing under the sand. It's really a common smell seaside the world over. Ah, that Holiday Inn Express really was nice

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by bocamom

Thanks for your responses. I would prefer it if all of our coastal water were tested sporadically for things like atrazine and pcbs and rocket fuel additives.

Obviously, it is moving water, and, as Hereclitus said, one can never step into the same stream twice.

But I don't see how that premise leads to a conclusion that it shouldn't be tested. I also don't understand how one can know it is as clean as the air without some sort of data. I understand that you like it and want to promote it, but this is not a request for promotion and the question need not be marginalized.

There is a lot to be concerned about with the gulf if one is versed in such things. How are we supposed to know how much dilution works if we don't test? In the 70s the creed was "the solution to pollution is dilution" and that's when a lot of this infrastructure was built. I have been working with a professor who is doing fish research here on the Atlantic side who is finding a lot of feminized fish with high body levels of xenoestrogens - some of them strongly linked to breast cancer in humans. Having grown up swimming daily at the beach, this is disturbing. I am looking to relocate to the Sarasota area and enroll my son at Pine View, but I am trying to make sure I will like it there first, that's all. . . I need data, not promotion. I'm a difficult customer that way

If you are so concerned about the water, then why don't you simply move somewhere where you don't have to be swimming in any water??

I too grew up swimming in the Atlantic, and over 50 years later, I still am doing so. So far, so good.