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EPA's BEACH Report:
Florida 2009 Swimming Season
May 2010
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
Florida for the 2009 swimming season.
During 2009 Florida monitored 305 beaches along
the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of
Mexico. These beaches are located in 34 of Florida's
35 coastal counties. One coastal county has no
accessible beaches along the Gulf. In total, there are
approximately 1,100 miles of recreational beaches in
Florida, and approximately 600 miles are monitored
at least once per week, year round. The geography
of these beaches varies from open coasts on barrier
islands to more enclosed bays, sounds, and intra-
coastal water ways.
Florida's beaches are heavily used most of the year.
April through September is the peak swimming
season, with winter visitors still swimming during
the colder months in the southern third of the
state. Surfers ply the state's waters year round.
The state's population is estimated at 18 million,
and approximately 70 million tourists visit per
year. Estimates from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) place the
number of swimmers at just over 14 million a year.
In addition, NOAA estimates that another 3.5 million
snorkelers, surfers, and divers enter Florida's water
each year.
Figure 1. Florida coastal
counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored
coastal beaches by county for 2009.
County
BAY
BREVARD
BROWARD
CHARLOTTE
CITRUS
COLLIER
DIXIE
DUVAL
ESCAMBIA
FLAGLER
FRANKLIN
GULF
HERNANDO
HILLSBOROUGH
INDIAN RIVER
LEE
LEW
MANATEE
MARTIN
MIAMI-DADE
MONROE
NASSAU
OKALOOSA
PALM BEACH
PASCO
PINELLAS
SANTA ROSA
SARASOTA
ST. JOHNS
ST. LUCIE
TAYLOR
VOLUSIA
WAKULLA
WALTON
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
16
27
19
10
1
56
1
10
18
9
6
7
1
9
16
19
2
11
21
16
39
29
26
24
7
42
10
33
8
25
5
16
2
12
553
Monitored
13
9
15
8
1
14
1
10
12
6
6
6
1
9
6
13
1
10
9
15
17
11
12
14
7
14
7
16
8
4
4
15
2
9
305
Not
Monitored
3
18
4
2
0
42
0
0
6
3
0
1
0
0
10
6
1
1
12
1
22
18
14
10
0
28
3
17
0
21
1
1
0
3
248
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2009 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at
a particular beach, Florida's approach is to issue
a beach advisory that warns people to avoid
contact with the water. A total of 102 monitored
beaches had at least one advisory issued during the
2009 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full
breakdown of notification action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Florida's 2009 swimming season, actions were
reported about 3 percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2009 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2009 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
What pollution sources possibly affect
investigated monitored beaches?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Florida's
investigated monitored beaches possibly affected
by various pollution sources. In 2009, 53 percent of
the beaches listed storm-related runoff as a possible
source.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Florida go to:
www.doh.state.fl.us (Select "Beach Water Quality"
from the subject list.)
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
174
2 3-7 8-30
Duration of Actions (Days)
>30
Figure 3:
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days with
an action:
3,405
(3%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2007-2009.
Beach days
with no action
107,920
(97%)
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
2007
308
98
32%
5%
2008
305
109
36%
5%
2009
305
102
33%
3%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (305 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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)
3
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
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