&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Mississippi 2011 Swimming Season
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July 2012
EPA820-F-12-015
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 Mississippi for the 2011 swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Mississippi monitored 22 coastal beaches in
three counties during the 2011 swimming season
(Figure 1 and Table 1). When monitoring results
at swimming beaches show that levels of specific
indicator bacteria in the water exceed applicable
water quality standards, Mississippi officials issue
a beach advisory, warning people of possible risks
of swimming.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011 of the 22 coastal beaches that Mississippi
monitored, 8 (36 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is the lowest
percentage in the past four years.
Figure 1. Mississippi coastal counties.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
by county for 2011.
1 County
HANCOCK
HARRISON
JACKSON
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
4
13
5
22
Monitored
4
13
5
22
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
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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
1-2 days
3-7 days
84%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Mississippi issued 20 notification actions during
the 2011 swimming season. Typically Mississippi
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For the majority of actions water quality
returned to normal and beaches were deemed safe
for swimming within a week or less (Figure 3).
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 that 4,686 beach days
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach }
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jo the Beach}
98.6%
98.6%
98.2%
95.4%
94.7%
were associated with the swimming seasons of
the 22 monitored Mississippi beaches. Mississippi
reported notification actions on 64 days, meaning
that beaches were open and safe for swimming
about 99 percent of the time. This percentage is
similar to the previous two years (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Mississippi beach
program contact:
Emily Cotton
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Tel: 228-432-1056
e-mail: Emily Cotton@deq.state.ms.us
For general information about beaches visit:
http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.goy/beacon2/.
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