MOBILE, Alabama [1] -- Beginning Sunday, Mobile Baykeeper will launch a swim guide app for smart phones and other handheld devices to offer water quality details about beaches in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
The free app, known as SwimGuide, will be available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android 2.1 or higher starting on Earth Day.
“In light of the BP oil disaster, we want to make sure people know our beaches are safe and healthy much more often than they are not,†said Casi Callaway, executive director of Mobile Baykeeper. “This is a great way to find a place to take your children and enjoy Alabama’s beautiful beaches.â€
Mobile Baykeeper, a nonprofit environmental group started in coastal Alabama 15 years ago, is adapting the app developed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper in Canada.
The app will use bacteriological monitoring data collected by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Those state agencies collect water samples from 25 recreational sites in Mobile and Baldwin counties as part of the Coastal Alabama Beach Monitoring Program.
Depending on the location, staff from ADEM and the state Health Department collect samples twice a week, once a week or once every other week from May through September and once a month for the remainder of the year.
Water samples are analyzed for the indicator bacteria enterococci.
If testing reveals high levels of the bacteria at a particular location, it is immediately retested by ADEM/ADPH, Callaway said, and if those results show that elevated bacteria levels persist, a public health advisory is issued.
“As long as you can get out good, factual information, I’m supportive of that,†Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier said of the new mobile device tool. “People need to be informed, and I think that’s a good thing.â€
Some uses of the SwimGuide app include:
Finding the closest beach using list, map or search tools.
Identifying a wide variety of beaches, ranging from city parks to nature preserves.
Locating, in real time, which beaches are safe for swimming.
Getting walking, driving or transit directions to area beaches.
Bookmarking beaches for easy access.
Allowing you to invite friends to join you at the beach using Facebook, Twitter, email and SMS text messaging.
Reporting pollution or environmental concerns.
More information on groups participating in the program can be found at www.theswimguide.org.
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