Surfrider Foundation's volunteer water quality monitoring program.
The Blue Water Task Force (BWTF) is the Surfrider Foundation’s volunteer-run, water testing, education and advocacy program. Our chapter uses this program to alert citizens and officials in our community about water quality problems, and to work toward solutions. The BWTF has demonstrated success by identifying problems with beach and coastal water pollution, raising public awareness of these incidents and working collaboratively with local stakeholders to find and implement pollution solutions.
The BWTF has also precipitated the establishment of state and local government water quality monitoring programs in many communities and continues to fill in data gaps, improving the public’s knowledge of the safety of their beach water. BWTF water testing programs measure bacteria levels at both marine and freshwater beaches, and compare them to federal water quality standards established by the EPA to protect public health in recreational waters.
In 2011, the Florida Legislature eliminated funding for the Florida Healthy Beaches Program. Now, we rely on federal funds to keep testing our beaches, which is why our BWTF program is more crucial now than ever!
Click here to find your local legislators, call them and ask them to support funding for the Florida Healthy Beaches Program: http://flsenate.gov/Senators/Find
Do you want to volunteer as a water sampling technician?
Contact our BWTF Chair, Russ Redman at rredman@surfriderpbc.org.