At a press conference at the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier on Wednesday, Escambia County and Pensacola Beach officials voiced concern at the lack of information about the health risks of oil washing ashore. Wilkins said the Environmental Protection Agency, the University of West Florida and the county all are testing the water quality at some local beaches. Water quality tests that take three days to complete have proven useless because of the daily, even hourly, movement of the slick along the shore, says Mr. Lee, the island authority director. Another problem for local officials weighing the bathing risks: Scientists don't know the health effects of dissolved petroleum in the water. The location and frequency of the EPA's water testing is unclear, Wilkins said, but county and UWF officials are testing water in surf zones at six locations — four on Santa Rosa Island and two on Perdido Key. There is not a nice red flag that pops up in chemical analysis ... that says the water is not safe for health reasons," Wilkins said.
– Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the water, hundreds of swimmers reported feeling ill after braving the waves when Pensacola authorities lifted the "no swimming" flag. Local officials rejected EPA advice to close beaches and are instead relying on lifeguards to spot oil and on bathers to use common sense and not swim where they see oil, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Local authorities complain that tests to check whether water is safe take 3 days to complete, while the location of oil changes hour to hour. "I went swimming on Saturday in the Gulf, and it was fine," Buck Lee, the official who reopened the beaches, told the Pensacola News Journal. "A day or two later, I might not want to go in there." Some skeptical Pensacola residents say Lee reminds them of the mayor in Jaws who didn't want to ruin business by shutting down beaches to protect swimmers from sharks on a long holiday weekend.