United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
(4305)
EPA 823-F-03-007
May 2003
EPA's BEACH Watch Program:
2002 Swimming Season
Introduction
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is committed to the goal of reducing illnesses
covered by waterborne, disease-causing microorganisms (pathogens) at recreational
beaches. Through its BEACH Watch Program, the Agency strives to promote greater
consistency in beach health programs and provide better information to the public. An
important tool for gathering this information is the annual questionnaire EPA sends out to
states, tribes, local governments, and other agencies that maintain swimming beaches.
Participation is voluntary.
The purpose of the questionnaire, called the National Health Protection Survey of
Beaches, is threefold:
1. To create an accurate national inventory of swimming beaches and the
agencies that maintain them.
2. To survey the water quality standards, monitoring methods, costs, and proce-
dures agencies use to issue beach advisories and closings.
3. To document critical aspects of each beach advisory and closing issued
throughout the swimming season including (1) the time length of the action,
(2) the reason the action was taken, (3) and the source(s) of pollution that
necessitated the action.
This fact sheet reports on information collected about the 2002 swimming season.
Figure 1. Number of beaches in the 2002 beach survey.
| Participated in the 2002 survey
| Not sent a 2002 questionnaire
n Did not participate in the 2002 survey
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Survey Participation
We contacted a total of 261 state and local agencies located mainly along ocean
coasts and the Great Lakes to participate in EPA's 2002 beach survey. A total of
240 agencies (an 92 percent return) from 31 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern
Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands submitted information about their
beaches (Figure 1).
The number of beaches in the survey has grown from 1,021 in 1997 to 2,823 in 2002.
Most survey respondents represent local governments. (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Types of respondents participating in the
2002 beach survey.
City, Town, or Village
32%
Region or District
10%
County
36%
Beaches
Agencies participating in the 2002 beach survey provided EPA with information on
2,823 beaches. Of these beaches, 2,031 were coastal, and 792 were on inland
waterways.
Advisory and Closings
A beach advisory or closing typically occurs when monitoring results show that
levels of pathogen indicators exceed a water quality standard. Twenty-five percent
of the beaches (709 of 2,823 beaches) had at least one advisory or area closed
during the 2002 swimming season. The main reason given for an advisory or closing
was elevated bacteria levels (cited in 75 percent of the beach actions). Most of the
advisories or closings were three to seven days in duration (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Beach advisories or closings by duration.
*••
c
3
O
0
1000n
800 -
600 -
400 -
200-
n
814
660 609
270
79
1 2 3-7 8-30 >30
Duration of advisories/closings (days)
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We asked survey respondents to identify the source(s) of the pollution that caused
the advisory or closing. In many cases, the source was unknown, but the second
largest was storm water runoff (Figure 4). A respondent could select more than one
pollution source for each advisory or closing.
Figure 4. Sources of pollution that resulted in advisories and closings
Notes:
CSO: Combined Sewer
Overflow
SSO: Sanitary Sewer
Overflow
POTW: Publicly Owned
Treatment Works
SSO POTW
CSO 3% \ 2%
1% "
Other
9%
Septic system
4%
Unknown
43%
Sewer line blockage/break
3%
Boat discharge
3%
Storm water runoff
21%
Trends
Since it began in 1997, we have expanded the EPA beach survey to include over
2,800 beaches. As a result, the survey covers more beach miles and collects more
information concerning advisories and closings (Table 1).
Table 1. Trends in agency participation, number of beaches, and advisories and
closings for 1997-2002.
Number of agencies
participating in the survey
Number of beaches
reported
Number of beaches affected by
one or more advisories or closings
Percentage of beaches affected by
one or more advisories or closings
1997
159
1,021
230
23
1998
217
1,403
353
25
1999
235
1,891
459
24
2000
236
2,354
633
27
2001
237
2,445
672
27
2002
227
2,823
709
25
Water Quality Standards
Agencies in charge of protecting the health of swimmers typically monitor for water
quality standards at their beaches. These standards vary among programs depending
on whether it is a freshwater or coastal beach, among other factors. Most standards
are based on the risk of human exposure to pathogens.
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Because detection is difficult and expensive, pathogens themselves are not usually
measured directly. Instead, one or more "indicator organisms" are measured and
used to predict the presence of pathogens. In 1986, EPA published a report that
recommended water quality criteria for two indicator organisms, Escherichia coli
and enterococci. The report concluded that these two indicator organisms are better
suited for predicting the presence of pathogens that cause gastrointestinal illness than
are total and fecal coliform bacteria, the two indicator organisms used in the past to
determine the safety of recreational waters. Some agencies have adopted E. coli and
enterococci as indicators; others have not. Many agencies use multiple indicators to
determine the safety of their waters. The total number of programs that reported the
use of E. coli, enterococci, total coliform, and/or fecal coliform concentrations as part
of their standards for marine waters and freshwaters are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Number of agencies, types of indicator organisms, and type of standard used
to determine swimming safety.
MARINE WATER
# of Programs Using
FRESHWATER
# of Programs Using
Indicator
Organisms
£. co/;'
Enterococci
Total coliforms
Instantaneous
Standard
4
82
18
Sample
Average
Standard
5
90
11
Indicator
Organisms
£. co/;'
Enterococci
Total coliforms
Instantaneous
Standard
59
16
17
Sample
Average
Standard
61
19
23
Fecal coliforms
55
43
Fecal coliforms
49
59
Notes: An agency can use multiple indicators. "Instantaneous standard" refers to a standard in which the density of the
indicator for any single sample must not be exceeded. "Sample average standard" refers to a standard that must not be
exceeded based on an average density calculated from samples taken over an established period of time (typically a
30-day period).
Monitoring
EPA's Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Bacteria—1986 recommends monitoring
five times per month for E. coli and enterococci. The survey results indicated that 93
percent of the beaches had some type of water quality monitoring program, but the
monitoring frequencies varied. Sixty-five percent of the beaches were monitored at
least once a week.
For More Information
EPA provides detailed results of the 2002 survey at the Agency's BEACH Watch
web site, http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches. The web site provides detailed
information on the hundreds of individual coastal, Great Lakes, and freshwater
beaches that participated in the survey. You can also find other information on local
beach programs and health issues, as well as contacts and links, at this site.
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