On Bonita Beach, swimmers ignore harmful bacteria health advisory

The Department of Health in Lee County is advising the public to stay out of the water at Bonita Beach Park due to high levels of bacteria.

Tests completed on Thursday indicate the water quality at Bonita Beach park does not meet the recreational water quality criteria for Enterococcus bacteria recommended by the Florida Department of Health.

The Department of Health asks that no one wade or swim at the park.

With this information, Bonita Beach Park has forced people to make a decision.

Stay on the sand or go in the water.

Alex Stanper, visiting from North Carolina said, “we’re trying to figure that out right now.”

Just getting in the water increases the risk of disease. Swallowing some of the water could cause diarrhea and abdominal pain.

“We been going up to Captiva Beach for the last couple of days and wanted to try something different today and didn’t hear about this until now,” Stanper said.

Others said they didn’t hear about the warning at all.

WINK News asked some people on the beach if they notice the advisory signs when they walked in?

Colin Ryan Coppin, visiting from Colorado Springs said he did not notice it.

“I don’t care, I’m getting in in about 10 minutes, I’m out here having fun, not going to stop me,” Coppin said.

And he did just that. Others chose to play it safe.

Katherine Nugen, visiting from Illinois said she’s probably not getting in the water, just putting her feet in and that’s it.

Some vacationers said they chose to stay after seeing the signs because they don’t know where else to go.

“We don’t really know any other beaches and closer to the end,” Nugen said.

Gerry Schleiffer, a local said said they are not going in the water. But will hang out on the beach for a while.

“We heard about the bacteria on the water on WINK this morning and then we saw the sign when we came in,” Schleiffer said.

Stormwater runoff, pets, wildlife, or sewage are likely to blame for the bacteria levels spiking.