Overview
Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) provide information on the potential health risks of contact recreation or fish/shellfish consumption from surface waters with fecal contamination. Water polluted with fecal bacteria can enter the bay through rivers, streams, or surface runoff after rain events or from faulty sewage infrastructure. Reporting on the status and trends of FIBs in Tampa Bay and its watershed can inform progress on remediating potential sources of these bacteria.
Multiple report cards on the FIB dashboard were created to support these efforts. These products support ongoing remediation efforts in the Hillsborough and Alafia River basins, the two largest sources of freshwater to Tampa Bay. A baywide assessment is also provided that summarizes the presence of FIBs at inflows to each of the major bay segments to Tampa Bay. Each report card provides a stoplight graphic of the likelihood that monitoring locations exceed thresholds considered potentially harmful to human health.
A: < 10% likelihood that the samples exceed the threshold
B: 10-30% likelihood that the samples exceed the threshold
C: 30-50% likelihood that the samples exceed the threshold
D: 50-75% likelihood that the samples exceed the threshold
E: > 75% likelihood that the samples exceed the threshold
The Tampa Bay fecal indicator bacteria report card showing results for each year and major bay segments. Results are assigned to Old Tampa Bay (OTB), Hillsborough Bay (HB), Middle Tampa Bay (MTB), and Lower Tampa Bay (LTB) indicating the likelihood of exceeding thresholds for Enterococcus bacteria.
The FIB dashboard created in Shiny is available to explore these data. A baywide assessment is provided, followed by tabs for data from multiple county monitoring programs, including Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Polk counties. Data downloads provide quick and easy access to the source information.
The fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) dashboard
The tbeptools R package includes several functions to import data required for the dashboard, analyze the data to calculate report cards, and plot the results to view status and trends. A detailed vignette is available on the tbeptools website that provides an overview of how to use the functions.
