Miami Waterkeeper (www.miamiwaterkeeper.org), a local nonprofit focused on ensuring clean water, enters Swim Guide data for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Water quality results displayed at this location were collected by Miami Waterkeeper’s weekly Water Quality Monitoring program. Samples are collected on Mondays with results available Tuesdays. Miami Waterkeeper may resample a beach on subsequent days if a water quality issue is detected.

Some sites are also sampled later in the week (typically Thursdays) by Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter (https://miami.surfrider.org).

Miami Waterkeeper collects weekly recreational water samples to test for levels of enterococci, a type of bacteria that indicates that pathogenic bacteria and viruses associated with fecal pollution may be present. These bacteria are known as fecal indicator bacteria (FIB). Analysis of samples takes 24 hours to culture before results are available. All local sampling programs on Swim Guide also use the thresholds for water quality as written in the Florida Administrative Code, based on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria: Good= 0-35 CFU/MPN enterococci / 100 mL of marine water; Moderate= 36-69 CFU/MPN enterococci / 100 mL of marine water; and Poor= 70 CFU/MPN or greater enterococci / 100 mL of marine water. Swim Guide uses a color system to quickly indicate water quality; green=Good, yellow=Moderate, and red=Poor. Clicking the pie chart icon will reveal a summary of the prior yearly or monthly pass/fail data. A sampling location is marked GREY when no current or reliable monitoring information is available.

Miami Waterkeeper will mark a beach as “RED” on Swim Guide after a single failed test is reported. These conservative advisories inform vulnerable people (children, elderly, and the immunocompromised) who have elevated health risks due to water quality at the beach.
Miami Waterkeeper will also mark a beach as "Special Status" if information comes from other sources indicating that the water is unsafe, for example, a sewage leak, red tide, or oil spill. If data is more than a week old, sites will show a historical record of water quality data from a given site.

Miami Waterkeeper’s Water Quality Monitoring program is run by full-time investigators and staff that sample common recreation sites on a weekly basis to keep you informed about your local water quality. This program aims to sample locations not currently sampled by the Florida Healthy Beaches (FHB) program in an attempt to fill in gaps in local water quality monitoring. Visit Miami Waterkeeper at www.miamiwaterkeeper.org/water_monitoring or email hello@miamiwaterkeeper.org if you have any additional questions or to view a complete set of monitoring data.