There’s improvement in the bay bacteria levels since the count skyrocketed in February.
But something’s stirring in the bay waters.
Suncoast Waterkeeper results from tests Feb. 25 show that high levels of enterococcus — a bacteria commonly found in human and animal feces — have thinned out in Sarasota Bay near Bridge Street and Bay Drive South.
Suncoast is a nonprofit that tests water quality in 11 locations, not including the public beaches monitored by the Florida Department of Health.
Suncoast tested the bay waters over two weeks in mid-February and found more than 24,000 colony-forming units of enterococci per liter in one sample. Other samples reached 1,670 and 4,884 cfu/L.
The DOH regards enterococcus levels exceeding 70 cfu/L as unsafe for human contact and posts no-swim advisories if a public beach it monitors tests higher than the threshold.
The latest round of tests resulted in 10 cfu/L along the shore at Bay Drive South, 10 cfu/L 100 feet into the water from the first location and 10 cfu/L at the floating dock at the Historic Bridge Street Pier.
However, a test taken at the shore along the base of the pier resulted in 131 cfu/L, which is higher than the DOH safety level. The location is the only one of the four test spots in the city that tested for unsafe enterococcus levels.
“These results indicate that the extreme water quality problem in the cove formed by Bay Drive and the Bridge Street Pier was the result of an event or condition that has apparently passed,” Suncoast executive director Andre Mele wrote in a March 1 email to The Islander. Mele said Suncoast will continue to monitor the site, and keep the DOH and Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie informed.
Bradenton Beach commissioners reached consensus Feb. 20 to conduct water quality tests for the area to identify the source of the high enterococcus levels.
The DOH also began discussions about funding and organizing an effort to counter the high bacteria.
Mele urged both entities to continue their investigations despite the lower test results.
Mele previously said pelican feces could have caused the elevated bacteria levels, and noted that several pelicans were present at the Kingfish Boat Ramp in Holmes Beach, where levels tested slightly higher than the DOH threshold for safety at 85 cfu/L.
“So, with all due respect, we cannot endorse or affirm the credibility of the Pelican Theory,” Mele wrote.
Mele also pointed to the latest results from tests on Palma Sola Creek in Bradenton, which is another of Suncoast’s test locations, that came back at 6,867 cfu/L. He said Suncoast will expand its monitoring of the area, and noted the creek has received sewage spills from a variety of sources in the past.