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Fund Florida Healthy Beaches in 2023

Fund Florida Healthy Beaches in 2023

To restore full funding of the Florida Healthy Beaches Program to monitor water quality at recreational beaches.

In 2000, the Florida Legislature created the Florida Healthy Beaches Program to test coastal water quality throughout the state. This vital program samples for enterococci bacteria, which is a  bacterial indicator of poor water quality. Exposure to contaminated water can lead to gastroenteritis, respiratory illness, rashes, eye and ear ailments, or worse. In 2011, the Governor and Legislature cut all state funding to the Florida Healthy Beaches Program. Since then, the program has been funded entirely by federal BEACH Act funds, with the exception of a one time state appropriation in 2019. 

Due to a lack of state funds, the program has significantly reduced sampling frequency, duration, and locations, leaving beachgoers vulnerable to illness when recreating in Florida's coastal waters. The baseline program sampling decreased from weekly to bi-weekly and sampling is suspended between November and March for all counties north of Pinellas and Brevard. The program also reduced the number of sampling locations monitored during the summer. 

Until the Florida Healthy Beaches Program is fully funded, Floridians and the billions of visitors to the state's coasts annually will never truly know when it is safe to swim. Surfrider's network met with members of the Florida legislature to advocate for this funding and sent messages to their elected officials during budget conference in an effort to change the tide for this critical public health program. 

That's why Surfrider's Florida network will continue advocating for the full restoration of funding for the Florida Healthy Beaches Program in 2024.