Fair Hope Al

Swim advisory issued for Fairhope beach; fifth so far this year

FAIRHOPE, Alabama -- The Baldwin County Health Department today issued a public swimming advisory for the waters of Mobile Bay at the Fairhope Public Beach -- the fifth such advisory issued for the location this year.

Teddy King, Baldwin Health Department director, said there have been several recent advisories for the Fairhope beach, but their cause is unclear.

Today's bacteria readings could be a result of the rainstorm Thursday evening, he said.

According to a news release from the department, two recent successive tests of swimming water quality at the affected sites were poor.

Monitoring will continue and the advisory will be lifted once bacteria values fall below the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold of 104 enterococcus organisms per 100 milliliters for marine water, officials said.

Bacterial concentrations in recreational waters can increase during and immediately following rainstorms because of overflowing sewage collection and treatment facilities, stormwater runoff, malfunctioning septic systems and agricultural runoff.

No known sewage spills have occurred, the release stated.

For more information about the advisory status, visit ADEM's website at www.adem.state.al.us.

God forbid we were in a normal weather pattern where it actually rained every other day. Please explain to me how this keeps happening! More importantly please explain to me after all the years of this crap (no pun intended) has no one identified the sources of the problem. I recognize that most folks around here come from the shallow end of the gene pool or at least aspire to it, but even the dumbest of the dumb should recognize that we should be treating this problem at the source. Instead we just sit back, downstream of the problem, and wait to see if we can go swimming or not or can eat the seafood we catch.

I especially love how cavalier the author is about this just being the result of routine sewage overflows. I don't understand why people have accepted the fact that your sewage routinely ends up in the bay. This is insane.

While these beach closing and waste spills might be "insane" as you said, the reporting of them is spot on. The reporter did not make up any facts or GUESS at why this keeps happening. He does however, and on a regular basis, remind the readers that this is happening. It is the responsibility of the READER and RESIDENTS to put a stop to this problem. The residents of Fairhope should be "cavalier" and start attending council meetings demanding an answer to this problem instead of worrying about petty issues with the Mayor. Who wants to live or visit a city or the Grand Hotel, with sewage and bacteria floating in it's bay? I applaud the straight fact reporting of Mr. Henderson and hope to read more when the city officials answer him.

Brittany+Mat {Fairhope, AL Wedding} » the little acorn photography ...

Fairhope, AL. Hands down, one of Alabama’s most exquisitely picturesque little towns, and a perfect setting for Brittany & Mat’s late May wedding. It would be difficult to dream up a more gorgeous collection of backdrops, settings, and venues, much less such a lovely & fun couple to photograph. And honestly, any further words at this point would just be rambling. Want to see more? Click on through!

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