On September 11, 2019, the Mayor and City Commission referred this discussion to the Sustainability and Resiliency Committee (SRC), which has been merged and renamed the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (LUSC). The item, which was sponsored by Commissioner Micky Steinberg, was first heard at the January 21, 2020 LUSC meeting and left as a standing item to be heard at Committee. A discussion on frequency of water testing in Miami Beach was subsequently heard at the February 12, 2020 City Commission meeting during which the Commission requested to hear from the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County, the Surfrider Foundation Blue Water Task Force, and the Miami Waterkeeper about their on-going water testing initiatives at the March LUSC meeting.

The Florida Department of Health in Miami Dade County (FDOH) conducts water testing in Miami Beach to determine whether they are safe for swimming and recreation and issues swim advisories along the city’s Atlantic coast. The Florida Healthy Beach’s program is part of a state-wide initiative delegated locally to FDOH. Once a week on Monday, FDOH collects water quality samples in the Atlantic Ocean at four established sampling points: the beaches in the vicinity of 1^st Street, 21^st Street, 53^rd Street, and 73^rd Street. At the request of the city, FDOH also samples the ocean water at the city’s designated Dog Beach at 81^st Street. These samples are taken to a NELAP-certified lab where they are tested for enterococcus, a type of fecal indicator bacteria that is used to determine the potential presence of disease-causing organisms in saltwater.

If enterococcus levels are present above the State’s recreational water quality standard of 35 CFU/100mL in a sample, the FDOH will issue a swim advisory for the affected beach. The City immediately alerts visitors and residents of the swim advisory through e-mail, press releases, hand delivered notices, and posted signage. The FDOH will re-test the affected location the following day and will lift a swim advisory once enterococcus levels test below the State’s recreational water quality standard.

Per FDOH staff, the frequency of sampling on Miami Beach represents the highest frequency of testing in the Florida Healthy Beaches Program. As such, the Administration does not recommend increasing the frequency of sampling on the beaches. However, because many residents and visitors use the bay for recreation, the city recently worked with the FDOH to expand their sampling network to include an additional station at the Purdy Avenue public boat ramp for an annual cost of $5,700.

The Miami Dade County’s Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) monitors surface water quality throughout the County. Under the DERM’s program, water quality samples are collected at 87 locations along Biscayne Bay, as well as major drainage canals leading to the bay. In 2016, the City added additional sampling locations voluntarily as an extension of the larger Biscayne Bay sampling network, which Miami-Dade County has been monitoring on a monthly basis for more than 40 years. The purpose of these programs are to monitor the overall condition and health of our bay and waterways. Data from this program is used to inform stormwater management and pollution prevention and to direct staff time, resources and funding where they will provide the greatest environmental benefit. Consistent with the County’s methodology, the samples are analyzed for physical (i.e., temperature), chemical (i.e., nutrients) and biological (i.e., enterococcus) parameters.

All samples collected by the City, FDOH, and DERM, and city processed in labs certified under the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP). Only sample are used to make official decisions, such as issuing swim advisories or making operational adjustments. NELAP is one of 13 Accreditation Bodies in the United States recognized under the Florida Department of Health’s Environmental Laboratory Certification Program. To get certified under NELAP, laboratories are required to demonstrate that they have the capacity to produce high quality testing results in the interests of protecting the health and environment of Florida’s citizens.

Surfrider & Miami Waterkeeper

Surfrider Miami’s Blue Water Task Force Program is a nationwide volunteer-run program for water testing, education and advocacy from the Surfrider Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting the ocean, waves and beaches. The local Blue Water Task Force initiative is run by the Surfrider Miami Chapter, in partnership with the Miami Waterkeeper, and is focused on increasing testing frequency in Miami-Dade County. Volunteers collect samples every Thursday and processes them in a lab that is not certified under NELAP. Surfrider reports the results within 24 hours in a weekly e-newsletter, on the Surfrider Miami Chapter’s website, and on the Miami Waterkeeper’s Swim Guide app.

The Miami Waterkeeper is a not-for-profit organization that “advocates for swimmable, drinkable, fishable water for all.” Their water quality monitoring program, which is funded through grants and sponsorship, is focused on monitoring bacteria levels where recreation occurs but regular testing is not currently taking place. Their staff collects samples at the same sampling locations every week and processes them in a lab, which is not currently certified under NELAP. The Miami Waterkeeper reports the results within 24 hours on their Swim Guide app, along with the data from the Florida Healthy Beaches Program and the Blue Water Task Force program.

Currently, the Miami Waterkeeper monitoring network has stations off Virginia Key and Key Biscayne. Six new stations will be added around the City of Miami at a cost of $50,000 for the first year. They do not currently have any sampling stations in bay waters adjacent to Miami Beach.

The current water testing frequencies and methodologies employed by FDOH, DERM, and Miami Beach for the beach and the bay were modeled after similar sampling programs throughout the State of Florida. The Administration recommends continuing weekly testing for the beaches as part of the Florida Healthy Beaches program and monthly testing for the bay through the city’s water quality monitoring program.