St. Pete Beach Needs Volunteers to Photograph Beach Conditions Prior to Deepwater Horizon Oil Impact

ST. PETE BEACH, FL -  The Beach Stewardship Committee of St. Pete Beach, in conjunction with the city's Public Services department and the Environmental Public Health Division of the Florida Department of Health, is seeking volunteers to photograph the current condition of St. Pete Beach's beaches to assist the City, County and State in its efforts to monitor the condition of our beaches during the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil crisis and to enable us to determine the extent to which our pristine white sands are being impaired by the oil and its residue.

Patti Anderson of the Florida Department of Health has released the following request:

Requested Action: 

We request that beach monitoring staff take a picture inventory of their beaches as a “Before” condition of the beaches in advance of the impact of the oil spill for the record.  We expect conditions to change as tar balls, etc,  start arriving – so although qualitative, can still be used as a measure of impact.  

The color of the sand is expected to change as 'hydrocarbons' start washing ashore.   Terms used are 'light, moderate and heavy'.   So getting pictures, in full sunlight of the sand color, will be helpful to document how conditions change.

We may very well ask you to repeat this activity as the beaches become impacted.   We will let you know as this is coordinated with the State Emergency Response Team (SERT).

Decisions to do beach cleanup could very well hinge on the color of the sand and the amount of tar balls.  So we wouldn't ask for this effort unless important.