Don't go in the water: High fecal bacteria at two Lee County beaches trigger warnings

Amy Bennett Williams, Fort Myers News-Press
·2 min read
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Don't go in the water warns Lee County's health department: There's too much fecal bacteria and it might make you sick.

According to routine tests Thursday, Bowditch Point Park on Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral's Yacht Club beaches had unsafe levels of Enterococcus bacteria, which can cause woes ranging from diarrhea, nausea, rashes and eye irritation to increased risk of disease in vulnerable people.

"Due to these risks, no wading or swimming at Cape Coral Yacht Club or Bowditch Point Park is recommended," wrote spokeswoman Noelia E. Martinez Irizarry in an email.

For months after Hurricane Ian last year, the department warned the public not to swim at Lee County beaches, but gradually lifted those warnings as conditions improved. The same thing happened after Hurricane Idalia in August.

Found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, enterococcus bacteria signal fecal contamination. Best known for gastrointestinal woes, they also can also cause upper respiratory illness, fever, eye infection, rashes, earaches and infected cuts, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Elevated levels of Enterococcus bacteria have been associated with an increased risk of swimming-associated gastroenteritis illness (diarrhea and abdominal pain)," Martinez Irizarry wrote.

More: Are all Lee County beaches back after Hurricane Ian? What to know before summer starts

This advisory will continue until bacteria levels are below the accepted health level. New test results should be available for Cape Coral Yacht Club and Bowditch Point Park on Tuesday.

Florida's Healthy Beaches program regularly samples waters where people swim, but as the name implies, it's limited to beach shorelines. Water quality advocates like Calusa Waterkeeper have long urged the state to include recreational waters like creeks and rivers in the testing as well, because people are exposed to water there as well.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Water at Bowditch Beach or the Cape's Yacht Club might make you sick