The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (DOH-Miami-Dade) is warning swimmers to avoid the water at Golden Beach and two nearby Miami Beach shorelines after tests found dangerous levels of bacteria.
DOH-Miami-Dade issued the advisory Friday, July 10, based on samples completed Thursday, July 9. The department said water at Golden Beach (33160), Bark Beach at 79th Street, and North Shore Ocean Terrace at 73rd Street (both in Miami Beach, 33141) failed to meet state recreational water quality standards for Enterococcus bacteria.
The agency advises against all water-related activities at the three locations until bacteria counts drop below state thresholds. No end date has been set.
How bad are the numbers?
The most recent publicly available readings, from samples collected Tuesday, July 7, showed Golden Beach at 118 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters of water and Bark Beach at 300 CFU/100ml. Both earned a "Poor" rating on the state's Florida Healthy Beaches dashboard. The threshold for "Poor" is anything above 104 CFU/100ml; the "Good" cutoff is 35 or below.
For comparison, Haulover Beach North and Haulover Beach South tested at 8 and 2 CFU/100ml respectively on the same date, well within the safe range.
No specific reading for North Shore Ocean Terrace appeared on the state's public dashboard as of Thursday evening.
What Enterococcus means for swimmers
Enterococcus bacteria live in the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals and serve as an indicator of fecal contamination, according to the state's Healthy Beaches program. Elevated levels can signal the presence of pathogens that cause nausea, diarrhea, ear infections, and skin rashes.
Advisory arrives during extreme heat
The warning coincides with a stretch of dangerous heat across South Florida. Heat advisories have been active for Miami-Dade and Broward counties, with feels-like temperatures exceeding 105 degrees Fahrenheit, according to CBS News Miami. That heat drives more residents toward the shoreline, raising the stakes of contaminated water.
The beaches are not formally closed. The advisory is a public health alert, not a closure order, but DOH-Miami-Dade's guidance is unambiguous: stay out of the water at all three sites.
How to stay informed
Residents can check real-time beach water quality results for all 16 monitored Miami-Dade beaches at FloridaHealth.gov/HealthyBeaches. For questions, call DOH-Miami-Dade at 305-324-2400.
