Water advisories issued for parts of Georgia’s Golden Isles have been lifted after tests showed it’s now safe.
Beachgoers had been warned to stay out of the water on two stretches of St. Simons Island and one on Jekyll Island after unsafe levels of enterococcus bacteria were found there.
Elizabeth Cheney with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Brunswick said more advisories have been issued this year than last. “Anytime we have a lot of rain we can expect that things get washed into the water, so we may be picking up that effect.”
As to why the Golden Isles seem to have more advisories than Jacksonville’s beaches, she said the city’s beaches have less runoff from marshes and better water clarity.
“Water right off the beaches in Georgia are getting influenced from these estuarine rivers that are bringing a lot of tannic acid which turns water brown and causes cloudiness. Sunlight kills off bacteria, and so if you have nice clear blue water the sunlight is going to hit that bacteria and kill it off pretty quickly.”
Enterococcus bacteria is typically found in warm-blooded animals like raccoons and deer and can cause urinary tract infections, blood poisoning and even meningitis in people.
Even though the water advisories have been lifted, any seafood caught in those areas should still be washed and cooked thoroughly.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
