St. Marys Riverkeeper (Riverkeeper) advises Nassau County residents to avoid swimming or fishing on Alligator Creek (Escambia Slough) due to the following unsafe water conditions:
August 3: Routine water monitoring found 1,033 CFU/100ml of Escherichia coli (E. coli) at 8th Street/Escambia Street.
August 9: Re-testing the site (along with an upstream access point) found 1,233 CFU/100ml.
Safe recreational water levels, as defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are below 235 CFU/100ml. EPA recommends avoiding any contact with water above 600 CFU/100ml.
In tidal areas such as Alligator Creek, tide flow impacts water quality testing results. Additional tests are scheduled with an updated sampling protocol and more information will be provided as results are gathered.
If you suspect a septic system is failing or smell sewage, please contact the Environmental Health Office of the Nassau County Health Department at 904-557-9150.
Riverkeeper samples more than 50 sites using staff and trained volunteers to perform chemical and bacterial water quality monitoring throughout the watershed. Riverkeeper reports results to local and state environmental agencies and to the community. Find all sampling data on our website – stmarysriverkeeper.org/water-quality.
St. Marys Riverkeeper is a nonprofit environmental organization devoted to protecting and enriching the St. Marys River through water quality monitoring, education, and advocacy.
One of my neighbors who lives on Escambia has tested the water in Alligator Creek for 3+ years and has found similar results about 90% of the time. Why is someone recognizing this now when it has been an ongoing problem?
Thank you for reporting this important information. It needs to be distributed regularly to the broad population because most seem to be unaware that we have such issues. We need to solve these problems before we wind up with major algae problems.
Also, kudos and thank you to the St. Marys Riverkeeper for their faithful efforts to improve the conditions of our waterways.