&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              Texas 2011  Swimming  Season
              August 2012
                      EPA820-F-12-027
  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 Texas for the 2011 swimming season.


  2011 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Texas monitored 66 coastal beaches in ten 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, Texas officials issue a beach
  advisory, warning people of possible risks of
  swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011, of the 66 coastal beaches that Texas
  monitored, 55 (83 percent) had at least one
  notification action. This is approximately the same
  as in previous years (Figure 2).
  Figure 1. Texas coastal counties.
                     Refugio
                San Patricio
                  Nuece
                                    Jefferson
                                 Galveston
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2011.

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
1
2
4
3
18
0
1
0
66
Not
Monitored
8
6
18
3
2
13
7
0
3
9
25
1
5
3
103

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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
          3-7 days
            2%
                    8-30 days
                       1%
                                  1-2 days
                                   97%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Texas issued 235 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Texas lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (97 percent)  water
quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one  or two days
(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
                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008

                                                        2007
             • To the Beach \
             • To the Beach
             • To the Beach }
             • To the Beach)
98.8%

98.5%

99.0%

98.1%

95.0%
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 23,598 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 66 monitored Texas
beaches. Texas reported notification actions on
283 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 99 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at state swimming
beaches (Figure 4).


For  More Information
For information about the Texas beach program
contact:
Craig  Davis
General Land Office
Tel: 512-463-8126
e-mail: Craig.Davis@glo.state.tx.us
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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