2024-01-01 18:00:09
Biologist Aliza Karim takes water samples from a canal in Miami, looking for indicators of fecal contamination. LAURENT WEYL / ARGOS
In the upscale Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami, a couple walks their golden retrievers under the first rays of the sun. They suddenly stop in front of a young woman handling plastic bottles. On the banks of a canal that flows into Biscayne Bay, Aliza Karim immerses a probe in the brownish water.
Every week, the biologist from the Miami Waterkeeper association analyzes samples in the laboratory. If the city authorities constantly monitor bathing waters, the association reserves around thirty sampling sites in parks, along the numerous canals which flow into Biscayne Bay. “We measure the oxygen level and water quality. We look for enterococci, which are indicators of fecal contamination. »
During intense rainy periods, certain neighborhoods overflow with broths full of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphates, etc.) and bacteria revealing the presence of human or animal feces. “Nutrients cause deoxygenation or green algae blooms, while bacteria pose a public health problem for us,” says Roy Coley, the head of the Miami-Dade County Wastewater Department. In short, Miami residents regularly have their golf shoes in their excrement!
Showers and tides
Here, rising water levels are a constant concern. The city rises on average to 1.2 meters above sea level. “We are on ground made up of porous, water-soaked limestone sedimentary rock, souligne Roy Coley, the basement is like Swiss cheese. » Several times a year, high tides cause seawater to surge through the ground, causing astonishing flooding on clear days.
In mid-November, heavy downpours coupled with these famous tides plunged entire neighborhoods into water. “Most of our samples in Miami and Fort Lauderdale showed abnormally high levels of bacteria. On several sites, the results have crossed the mark of twenty-four thousand units per hundred milliliters of water! This is huge since the rate recommended by public health experts is seventy. Fecal markers are found several dozen times a year, c‘is very common after the rains’, deplores Aliza Karim. Even though Miami residents don’t swim in the bay or the canals, knowing that the water is teeming with fecal matter is hardly a pleasant experience.
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