By DOTTY NIST
South Walton County began the week of June 7 with crowds along the beaches and the parking lots of regional beach accesses overflowing with vehicles.
The water was perfect for swimming and clear with the exception of a little June grass along the county’s 26 miles of coastline.
However, measures were in place by Walton County and its contractors for protection against any oil from the BP spill entering the county. Among these were the recontouring of beach sand near Walton County coastal dune lakes to provide a more protective slope, the deploying of booms between the gulf and the lake outfalls, and, in several cases, the construction of sand berms to close off the outfalls. Western Lake’s wide outfall was closed off with a five-foot-tall protective berm built from many loads of trucked-in sand. Sand was stockpiled next to some of the outfalls that were not completely closed so that the lakes could be closed off from the gulf should it become necessary to prevent the entry of oil.
Monitoring by Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the South Walton Tourist Development Council, and the South Walton Fire District personnel has been in place in the interest of quick response to any oil-related incident, with additional booms, skimmers, and workers ready to be called in from U.S. Coast Guard staging areas in Panama City and Pensacola. Vessels of opportunity have also been on patrol along the coastline prepared to begin clean-up offshore if necessary to spare the coastline from oil impacts.
On June 4 and 5 the sheriff’s office reported the finding of several quarter-sized dark clots appearing to be oil on the beach. Authorities were notified, and as a result state Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission personnel began patrol of the beaches on June 5 to identify and quickly dispose of any oil-related substances that might come onto the beaches. Anyone encountering such a substance is urged not to handle it but to call the BP hot line, (866) 448-5816, or the sheriff’s office at (850) 267-2000, for disposal.
With the matter of these isolated incidences under control, Walton County’s beaches remain open and visitors and residents are being encouraged to enjoy the gulf.
”It is business as usual on our beaches, and we will deal with whatever comes our way,” said Captain Mike Barker of the sheriff’s office.
