EPA's BEACH Report:
Louisiana 2008 Swimming Season
May 2009
Introduction
The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal
and Great Lakes states and territories report
beach water quality monitoring and notification
data for their coastal recreation waters to EPA.
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 Louisiana for the 2008 swimming
season.
Due to the lingering impacts of Hurricane
Rita, use of Cameron Parish beaches during
the 2008 swimming season remained low
relative to historic levels. Hurricane Ike further
impacted Cameron Parish beaches in 2008,
reducing use from mid-September through
the balance of the 2008 swimming season,
and eliminating access to Hackberry beach.
Grand Isle State Park beaches were also closed
for the majority of 2008 due to construction
activities associated with beach restoration
along the Park's shoreline to repair lingering
damages from Hurricane Katrina. In early
September 2008, Hurricane Gustav resulted in
closure of the access road to Fourchon, which
resulted in closure of the beach for the balance
of the swimming season. Use at the remaining
beaches during 2008 was at approximately
historic levels.
Figure 1. Louisiana coastal parishes.
St. Tampany
JeffersolnT"
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
parish for 2008.
Parish
CAMERON
JEFFERSON
LAFOURCHE
ST. MARY
ST. TAMMANY
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
13
7
4
1
1
26
Monitored
13
7
4
1
1
26
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
0
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2008 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Louisiana issues beach advisories when water
quality standards are exceeded. All monitored
beaches had at least one advisory issued during the
2008 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full
breakdown of notification action durations. This
figure includes advisories issued when water quality
criteria were exceeded and closures issued during
beach construction or following hurricanes.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Louisiana's 2008 swimming season, actions were
reported about 66 percent of the time (Figure 3).
Advisories associated with an observed exceedance
of water quality criteria accounted for 71% of
notifications, with the balance from construction
and post-hurricane closures. Adjusting for closures,
water quality advisories were reported about 61% of
the time.
How do 2008 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2008 notification action data
with monitored beach data from previous years.
However, due to annual changes in monitoring
tier assignments, these results cannot be directly
interpreted. A thorough analysis of water quality
trends is presented in the Program's annual report.
What pollution sources possibly affect
investigated monitored beaches?
Louisiana has conducted sanitary surveys of all
monitored beaches and continues to investigate
possible sources of contamination at monitored
beaches with high exceedance rates. However, no
possible sources of pollution affecting Louisiana's
investigated monitored beaches in 2008 were
identified (Figure 4).
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
35-
30-
25-
O
5-
2 3-7 8-30
Duration of Actions (days)
>30
Figure 3:
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
3,175
(66%)
Beach days
with no action:
1,609
(34%)
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
22
1
5%
<1%
2007
26
18
69%
38%
2008
26
26
100%
66%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (26 beaches).
0 10 20 30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
90 100
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in
Louisiana, including the Program's
annual report, Louisiana BEACH
Grant Report, 2008 Swimming Season:
www.ophbeachmonitoring.com
Investigated / no sources found
Non-storm related runoff
Storm-related runoff
Agricultural runoff
Boat discharge
Cone, animal feeding operation
Combined sewer overflow
Sanitary sewer overflow
Publicly-owned treatment works
Sewer line leak or break
Septic system leakage
Wildlife
Other (identified) source(s)
Unidentified source(s)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
100
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