If you’re thinking about taking a dip in the beaches in Hernando County, a new study might have you rethinking that.
A report released Tuesday by the nonprofits Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group has Hernando County beaches leading Florida in the number of potentially unsafe beach days in 2018.
The report looked at more than 260 Florida beaches and said 180 of them had at least one day that puts swimmers at risk for getting sick.
Hernando County beaches were potentially unsafe for swimmers about 38 percent of the time, the study found. That was a higher percentage than any other beach in the Sunshine State.
The report said the beach pollution mostly comes from failing septic systems, sewage overflow and urban runoff.
The report also touches on how sewage and fecal contamination at swimming areas lead to infections, skin rashes and breathing problems.
Swimmers can avoid sickness from contaminated water by checking for signs if the beach is closed or has bacteria in the water, according to health experts. They can also avoid not getting sick by not swallowing the beach water.
Since the report was released, the Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group took the information off their website.
They posted this statement:
"Since we released the beaches report, some of our data has been called into question. To ensure the utmost accuracy, we are revisiting all the data and we will make our findings public as soon as possible."
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