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Recreational Water Quality Map

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This map shows fixed coastal monitoring sites as well as inland or coastal locations where adverse water quality conditions have recently been reported. The latter may include red tide/harmful algal blooms, bacteria, or pollution. View Datasources.
Display Filters

Use the checkboxes below to show/hide monitoring locations on the interactive map.

Red Tide Monitoring
Bacteria Monitoring
Pollution Reports

About

The Recreational Water Quality Map brings together information about Tampa Bay's waterways that is important to area residents. In particular, it has sampling results for harmful algal blooms and bacteria at beaches: where the public is in direct contact with waters and at tidal, non-beaches: environments where the public may have incidental contact with waters through fishing, boating, kayaking and other activities. Also displayed are pollution releases that may affect the health and safety of recreational users. Every effort has been made to include the latest sampling results available from the data sources represented.

To report water quality issues not represented here, please use the Report Pollution form on this website.

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Datasources

Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring
  • FWC Red Tide Monitoring — These data from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission represent the most recent eight (8) days of sampling location points for the phytoplankton that causes red tide, Karenia brevis. These data are exported daily at 4:45 PM Eastern Time from the HAB Database, which provides information on the presence and absence of Karenia brevis. More Information »
  • Algal Bloom Sampling Status — FDEP's and partner agencies' real-time sampling updates for harmful algal blooms (HABs) throughout Florida. Data are filtered to show results for the most recent 4 months. More Information »
Bacteria Monitoring

Units used to report bacteria monitoring results may be Colony-Forming Units (CFU) or Most Probable Number (MPN) or Membrane Filter (MF) based on the analysis method. All of these units represent the number of bacteria estimated to be present within a 100-milliliter sample of water.

  • Florida Healthy Beaches program (FLHEALTH) — The Florida Healthy Beaches program is administered by the Florida Department of Health and its county health departments. It protects beachgoers from conditions unsuitable for swimming by sampling beach water and providing accurate and up-to-date explanations of the results. Sampling is performed biweekly to detect Enterococcus bacteria, which can come from a variety of natural and human-made sources. These include pet waste, livestock, birds, land-dwelling and marine wildlife, stormwater runoff, and human sewage from failed septic systems and sewage spills. These data are also made available on the Florida Department of Health website. More information » Download Historic Data

    Value Qualifiers:

    • U: Less than 4 colonies are present.
    • B: Additional qualifiers may apply to the reported data.
    • Z: "too numerous to count" The number of colonies present prevented an actual count. The data reported is an estimate based on the maximum number of colonies that can be counted on a plate times the dilution used.
  • City of St. Petersburg (COSP_CoastalWQ)— The City of St. Petersburg performs water quality monitoring for Enterococcus weekly for "Beaches" where swimming occurs and "Tidal, non-beach" recreational waters where activities like fishing, boating, kayaking, etc. E. coli is monitored monthly in non-marine waterbodies. Monitoring is also performed in response to "Unauthorized Discharges" like sanitary sewer overflows. More information » Download Historic Data
  • Tampa Bay Waterkeeper® (TampaBay_Waterkeeper)— Tampa Bay Waterkeeper is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a global network of over 350 grassroots leaders in six continents protecting everyone's right to clean water. Tampa Bay Waterkeeper is dedicated to ensuring fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water for all by working collaboratively with citizens, local organizations, businesses and governments to safeguard our coastal and inland waters using the law, science and community action. Download Historic Data
Public Notices of Pollution
  • Section 403.077, Florida Statutes, defines a "reportable release" and requires the reporting of any "release or discharge of a substance from an installation to the air, land, or waters of the state which is discovered by the owner or operator of the installation, which is not authorized by law,and which is reportable to the State Watch Office within the Division of Emergency Management pursuant to any department rule, permit, order, or variance." The incidents shown here were reported to the State of Florida by public agencies and private facilities via a form on the FDEP website. Results show all notices of pollution provided by the FDEP datasource in the last 30 days. More information »

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  • USF Water Institute