Okaloosa County Chairman Trey Goodwin provided an update on the environmental incident in Cinco Bayou at the end of Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting.
- Goodwin said the incident first came to light Sunday and remains under investigation, with multiple agencies now involved. He described it as a significant event that stretched multiple miles of the bayou and has not yet resolved, though conditions are changing.
“We don’t know exactly what it was,” Goodwin said. “Don’t know if it was a spill. Not sure yet.”
According to Goodwin, the incident killed thousands of fish and thousands of crabs. He said the odor was a sulfur-type smell that would burn the nose and eyes, and the water turned gray.
“Fish were trying to escape the water,” Goodwin said. “There were flounder trying to swim out on the bank. Eels coming out of reefs trying to climb up sea walls. Crabs that were climbing up pilings.”
Goodwin said the source has not been identified and that agencies are pursuing the typical suspects. Both the county and the City of Fort Walton Beach have looked at water and sewer systems, and officials are examining other point sources.
He said water test results are expected to come in over several days, some Tuesday, some Wednesday and possibly some Thursday, with different levels of analysis, because no single cause has been identified so far.
Goodwin said the incident did not develop incrementally but rapidly, impacting three and a half miles of the bayou within a 24-hour period.
Okaloosa County investigating ‘abnormal discoloration and odor’ in Cinco Bayou
Okaloosa County, Fort Walton Beach and the Department of Health are investigating abnormal discoloration and odor in Cinco Bayou after residents reported the issue Sunday.
5 Responses
Picture looks like a poo slide to me 🙂
This is what Grok says:
A hypoxic/anoxic (low- or no-oxygen) event in the water column and/or sediments, producing toxic hydrogen sulfide (H₂S, the classic rotten-egg/sulfur smell) via sulfate-reducing bacteria. This is a well-documented natural (or nutrient-exacerbated) cause of mass fish and crab kills in bayous, estuaries, and coastal waters, and it can easily affect miles of waterway. 
How it works
• Warm, stratified, stagnant, or nutrient-rich water holds less dissolved oxygen. Organic matter (algae, vegetation, debris) decays, bacteria consume the remaining oxygen, and the bottom water/sediments go anoxic.
• Under those conditions, sulfate-reducing bacteria switch to using sulfate and generate H₂S. The gas is highly toxic to fish and crabs (it interferes with respiration/oxygen transport) and produces the strong sulfur odor. Dead organisms then fuel more decay and sulfide production.
• Crabs (bottom-dwellers) and fish often surface, beach themselves, or die in large numbers; “blue crab jubilees” (crabs leaving the water en masse) are classically linked to rising sulfides + low oxygen.
• Triggers that can spread the problem over several miles include:
• Prolonged heat + calm conditions (stratification).
• Sudden mixing/turnover (storms, heavy rain, temperature swings) that brings sulfidic bottom water to the surface.
• Algal or sulfur-bacteria blooms (“Pistachio Tide”-type events) that further deplete oxygen and release sulfur compounds.
• Post-storm debris/floodwater or nutrient runoff that boosts organic load. 
Supporting observations from similar events
Official investigations of bayou and harbor fish/crab kills with sulfur odors routinely find extremely low oxygen levels and no single “point source” pollutant; the chemistry of the sulfur cycle in anoxic sediments is the consistent signature. Sulfides also stain shells/sediments black and can kill shellfish on the bottom. 
Pollution (sewage, industrial discharge, chemical spill) can cause similar symptoms if it creates anoxia or directly introduces sulfides, but the combination of widespread impact + strong natural H₂S odor is far more often the hypoxic/sulfide event described above. Water sampling for dissolved oxygen, H₂S, and nutrients is the usual way authorities confirm it.
Groc makes a lot of sense. I hope the water tests confirm this theory, but How do we fix the hypoxic / anoxic water problem ?? Do we need to pump O2 into the water like a big fish tank ??
Going next to Crab Island! Your ‘in’?
I am relieved to learn that this sad event is being responded to. Out here in Joe’s Bayou, I have reported smaller oil or fuel spills from vessels. The reaction I got was: nothing.
A marine officer came by car, saw the offending vessel at a dock nearby, and told me he did not have a boat available to approach the offending vessel.
I pointed out that he could drive over to the house where the dock was, and walk to the dock. His reply to this: he couldn’t, because it would be trespassing.
I find this absurd and pathetic. So, the spill continued.