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Council hears DES beach-monitoring update; 'no smoking gun' found for high enterococcus readings
Summary
Councilman Robert Renner summarized 2025 cooperative beach monitoring with the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services, which found elevated enterococcus at a Side Beach site but concluded septic systems are unlikely the primary cause and readings often align with King Tides and stormwater runoff.
Councilman Robert Renner presented the Town's 2025 water-quality findings from tests conducted in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (DES). Renner summarized sampling that DES conducted across 12 beach locations (May–September) and noted that one Side Beach site received a long-term swimming advisory for the 2025 season.
Renner said the data included a concentration of elevated readings at site LC-081 (Beach Access 35): "In 2024, more than 10% of the data collected from the past five years for LC-081 (Beach Access 35) was over the 104 CFU/100ml threshold." He described DES's additional sourcing efforts and interpretation: "We do not have a smoking gun, and it appears that septic systems are not the root cause of high enterococcus readings; and readings are not population driven." Renner said DES noted correlations with King Tides, stormwater runoff, and the outflow behavior of rivers and creeks into the sound.
Renner told Council that DES ran qPCR sourcing tests and that repeat measurements typically returned to normal within a day or two after spikes. He said the Town will continue partnering with DES and academic partners to gather more and better data; DES committed to more frequent testing at Side Beach in 2025. Councilman Renner invited residents to follow up and ask more detailed questions about the testing program.
