Saltwater Brewery - What's Brewing

South Florida's wet season runs May 15 through Oct. 15, and the National Weather Service forecast office that covers our coast defines it as the stretch when 60 to 70 percent of the year's rain falls. So this is the last full week of it. Five months of afternoon storms have been running off roofs, lawns and parking lots into storm drains, and from there into canals, an estuary most of us drive past without naming, and finally the ocean. Here is where that water goes, how to read the beach test that follows a big rain, and five things worth doing before Halloween.

The estuary behind the beach

North of Delray, from North Palm Beach down to Ocean Ridge, the water between the barrier island and the mainland is the Lake Worth Lagoon, which Palm Beach County's Environmental Resources Management calls the county's largest estuary. The county's 2021 Lake Worth Lagoon Management Plan describes it as "just 20 miles long," 11.3 square miles. Salt water enters through the Lake Worth and South Lake Worth inlets. Fresh water arrives through three drainage canals, the C-17, C-51 and C-16, which together collect runoff from more than 305,000 acres, and the C-51 alone delivers nearly 60 percent of the lagoon's freshwater flow. The watershed feeding it is 42 times the size of the lagoon itself, home to more than a million people across 30 municipalities and the unincorporated county.

The plan notes that the Central Lagoon, farthest from the flushing of either inlet and on the receiving end of most canal discharges, has the most diminished water quality of the three sections. A 2019 valuation put recreation and business activity tied to the lagoon at $813.9 million a year, and total benefits at $5.37 billion. ERM has run more than 50 restoration projects there and created or restored over 250 acres of estuarine habitat, including a 14-acre oyster bar at Johns Island that filters the water where the C-51 comes in. The same inlets face the reef tract we wrote about in August.

Delray sits a few miles south of the lagoon's end, but the rule holds from Jupiter to Boca Raton: what goes down a storm drain comes out in a canal, a lagoon or the surf.

How to read a beach water test

After a heavy rain, the first question is whether to swim. The Florida Healthy Beaches Program answers it by sampling for enterococci, bacteria from the gut of humans and animals whose presence points to stormwater runoff, pets, wildlife or sewage. The scale is simple: Good is 0 to 35 enterococci per 100 milliliters of seawater, Moderate is 36 to 70, and Poor is 71 or more. An advisory goes up when a sample tops 70 and the resample does too.

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County samples 13 beaches, Jupiter to Boca Raton, every week, and Sandoway in Delray Beach is one of them. In its Dec. 30, 2025 report, Sandoway read under 10, while Dubois Park in Jupiter and Spanish River in Boca Raton were under advisories at 161 and 75. Results and advisories post to the state's beach water quality map. Check it the morning after a downpour.

Fertilizer, the October edition

UF/IFAS says South Florida lawn fertilizer "can be applied throughout the year when needed," in its homeowner best practices, so plenty of yards get fed in October. Palm Beach County Ordinance 2012-039 sets the rules. No nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizer goes down while a flood, tropical storm or hurricane watch or warning is in effect for any part of the county, or when 2 inches or more of rain is likely within 24 hours. None goes on saturated soil. And none goes within 10 feet of any pond, lake, canal, stream, wetland or the top of a seawall, 3 feet if you use a deflector shield or drop spreader. UF/IFAS adds: choose slow-release nitrogen with little or no phosphorus, and sweep spilled granules back into the bag rather than rinsing them toward the drain.

Report what you see

If the canal behind a friend's house turns green, or fish wash up on the beach, two phone numbers handle it. Algal blooms go to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, online at floridadep.gov/AlgalBloom or by phone at 1-855-305-3903, per the department's bloom FAQ. Fish kills, sick fish and discolored water go to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish Kill Hotline at 1-800-636-0511. FWC says the hotline has logged more than 40,000 reports since 1995, and asks for a location, a rough count and species, and a way to reach you.

Five things to do before Halloween

1. Check the beach map after a big rain. Good is 0 to 35, Poor is 71 and up, and an advisory means stay out.
2. Feed the lawn by the county rule. Nothing with nitrogen or phosphorus ahead of a 2-inch rain, a 10-foot strip left bare along any water, and sweep what you spill.
3. Save two numbers. DEP for algae, 1-855-305-3903. FWC for fish kills or discolored water, 1-800-636-0511.
4. Mind the king tides. The South Florida Water Management District's Sept. 24 to Oct. 15 window is open now; the next runs Oct. 22 to Nov. 12, with Oct. 27 the year's highest predicted peak. Our king tide guide covers how to read the tide table.
5. Go to LagoonFest. Saturday, Oct. 31, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., along Flagler Drive in downtown West Palm Beach. Free, with scientist-guided boat tours of the lagoon, first come, first served, per the organizers' 2026 activity outline.

The dry season is the payoff for all of it: fewer afternoon storms, cooler evenings, and seven months of beer-garden weather. Find us at 1701 W. Atlantic Ave in Delray Beach, the first building off the I-95 Atlantic Ave exit. Taproom hours: Mon 1–7 · Tue–Thu 12–10 · Fri–Sat 12–11 · Sun 12–8. See what's coming up on our events page. From our founders and the whole Saltwater crew: here's to a clean dry season.

Please drink responsibly.