&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Louisiana 2011 Swimming Season
July 2012
EPA820-F-12-012
Introduction
The Beaches Environmental Assessment and
Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000 authorizes
EPA to provide grants to coastal and Great Lakes
states, territories, and eligible tribes to monitor
their coastal beaches for bacteria that indicate the
possible presence of disease-causing pathogens
and to notify the public when there is a potential
risk to public health. The BEACH Act requires that
recipients of those grants report their coastal beach
monitoring and notification data to EPA. This fact
sheet highlights the data submitted to EPA by the
State of Louisiana for the 2011 swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Louisiana reports 28 coastal beaches located in
six parishes (Figure 1). Louisiana monitored 24 of
these beaches during the 2011 swimming season
(Table 1). When monitoring results at swimming
beaches show that levels of specific indicator
bacteria in the water exceed applicable water
quality standards, Louisiana officials issue a beach
advisory, warning people of possible risks of
swimming or close the beach to public swimming
until further monitoring finds that water quality
complies with applicable standards.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011 of the 24 coastal beaches that Louisiana
monitored, 22 (92 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is an increase in
percentage from 2010 when 20 of 27 (74 percent)
monitored beaches had actions. In total numbers,
however, it is only an increase of two beaches.
Figure 1. Louisiana coastal parishes.
Table 1.
Number of monitored and unmonitored
coastal beaches by parish for 2011.
County
CALCASIEU
CAMERON
JEFFERSON
LAFOURCHE
ST. MARY
ST. TAMMANY
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
2
13
7
4
1
1
28
Monitored
2
12
7
1
1
1
24
Not
Monitored
0
1
0
3
0
0
4
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Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
more notification actions
Figure 4: Percent of beach days open and
safe for swimming
Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
actions in 2011
Over 30 days
40%
3-7 days
42%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Louisiana issued 57 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Louisiana lifts
an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
Notification action durations in Louisiana in 2011
ranged from 3 days (2 actions) to over 100 days
(14 actions).
What percentage of days were beaches under
a notification action?
EPA calculates the total available beach days and
the number of beach days with notification actions
to better track trends over time. Total available
beach days are determined by multiplying the
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach )
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach
• To the Beach}
• To the Beach
44.9%
44.7%
47.4%
33.6%
64.2%
that 4,392 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 24 monitored Louisiana
beaches. Louisiana reported notification actions
on 2,421 days, meaning that beaches were open
and safe for swimming about 45 percent of the
time. (Figure 4). Unfortunately, Louisiana beaches
continued to experience lingering impacts from
recent hurricanes and the 2010 explosion of the
BP-leased Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling
platform.
For More Information
For information about the Louisiana beach
program contact:
Chris Lemaire
Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
Tel: 225-342-7540
e-mail: chris.lemaire@la.gov
For general information about beaches visit:
http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.
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