EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              Texas  2008  Swimming  Season
             May 2009
Introduction
The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal
and Great Lakes states and territories report
to EPA on beach monitoring and notification
data for their coastal recreation waters. The
BEACH Act defines coastal recreation waters as
the Great Lakes and coastal waters (including
coastal estuaries) that states, territories,
and authorized tribes officially recognize or
designate for swimming, bathing, surfing, or
similar activities in the water.
This fact sheet summarizes beach monitoring
and notification data submitted to EPA by the
State of Texas for the 2008 swimming season.
The Texas Beach Watch Program collects water
samples from 167 stations along the Texas coast
in Aransas, Brazoria, Cameron, Galveston,
Jefferson, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces and San
Patricio counties. The Texas General Land Office
contracts with universities, local governments
and commercial laboratories to collect the
samples and test them for the  presence of
Enterococcus bacteria. Samples are collected
and tested weekly from May through September
(the peak beach season) and every other week
from October through April. In addition, weekly
samples are collected at Gulf of Mexico beaches
during March to coincide with Spring Break and
the increased number of tourists.
The year 2008 saw a decrease in the number
of advisory days during the beach season.
In addition, the percentage of beaches and
beach days affected by notification actions
also decreased. The drought of 2008 has been
classified as extreme to exceptional; however,
water quality changes, while improving, were
not significant.
All monitored recreational beaches in
Texas now have public notification signage
indicating whether contact with beach water is
recommended based on the most recent testing.
Figure 1.  Texas coastal counties.
                            Chambers
                         Harris
                        Brazoria
  efferson
Iveston
                               Matagorda
                             Calhoun
                            Aransas

                          Willacy
                     "^—^3 Cameron
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2008.
County
ARANSAS
BRAZORIA
CALHOUN
CAMERON
CHAMBERS
GALVESTON
HARRIS
JEFFERSON
KLEBERG
MATAGORDA
NUECES
REFUGIO
SAN PATRICIO
WILLACY
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
9
10
18
12
2
36
8
2
7
12
43
1
6
3
169
Monitored
1
4
0
9
0
23
0
2
4
3
18
0
1
0
65
Not
Monitored
8
6
18
3
2
13
8
0
3
9
25
1
5
3
104

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2008 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported and
how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Texas' approach is to issue a beach
advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the
water. A total of 48 monitored beaches had at least one
advisory issued during the 2008 swimming season.
About 92 percent of Texas' 156 notification actions
lasted one day. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of
notification action durations.

What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Texas' 2008 swimming season, actions were
reported about 2 percent of the time (Figure 3).

How do 2008 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2008 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.

What pollution sources possibly affect investigated
monitored beaches?
In 2008, Texas beaches were not investigated for
sources of pollution.
Figure 2:  Beach notification actions by duration.
         144
                 2      3-7     8-30
                Duration of Actions (days)
                                        >30
Figure 3:  Beach days with
          and without
          notification
          actions.
             Beach days
           with an action:
                192
               (2%)
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For more information about water quality conditions go
to: www.TexasBeachWatch.com.
Additional information regarding the Texas Beach
Watch Program is available by contacting the Beach
Watch Coordinator at beachwatch@glo.state.tx.us, or
by calling the Texas General Land Office at 1-(800)
998-4GLO.
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2006-2008.

Number of monitored
beaches
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
2006
62
50
81%
6%
2007
67
50
75%
5%
2008
65
48
74%
2%

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