&EFA United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA's BEACH Report: Florida 2011 Swimming Season August 2012 EPA820-F-12-034 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 sheet highlights the data submitted to EPA by fact the State of Florida for the 2011 swimming season. 2011 Swimming Season Monitoring and Notification Actions Florida monitored 275 coastal beaches in 34 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, Florida officials issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible swimming. Figure 1. Florida coastal counties. ^^4*1^-1^4— H Wakulla 4/Duval ^ xS* Dixie/ ^ FlaglerX CitrusN ^J~ risks \ HernanooSi Brevard^ PascoJ i PinellasRPforou9h V/ Indian R I of yerV Manatee \---A St. Lu]c7e\ Sarasota\3- — , f ^Shl \Collier ^v — Monroe lartin\ 3each ^rowi frd Miarni- Dad'e Table 1. Number of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2011. • Total Not County Beaches Monitored Monitored BAY 16 13 3 BREVARD 27 8 19 BROWARD 19 13 6 CHARLOTTE 11 8 3 CITRUS 1 1 0 COLLIER 56 10 46 DIXIE 1 1 0 DUVAL 10 10 0 ESCAMBIA 18 9 9 FLAGLER 963 FRANKLIN 7 6 1 GULF 7 6 1 HERNANDO 1 1 0 HILLSBOROUGH 990 INDIAN RIVER 17 6 11 LEE 22 13 9 LEW 2 1 1 MANATEE 12 7 5 MARTIN 21 8 13 MIAMI-DADE 19 15 4 MONROE 39 15 24 NASSAU 30 10 20 OKALOOSA 26 12 14 PALM BEACH 24 13 11 PASCO 770 PIN ELLAS 48 10 38 SANTA ROSA 10 5 5 SARASOTA 34 16 18 ST. JOHNS 862 ST. LUCIE 25 4 21 TAYLOR 532 VOLUSIA 16 13 3 WAKULLA 220 WALTON 12 8 4 TOTALS 571 275 296 ------- 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 9% 1-2 days 6% How many beaches had notification actions? In 2011, of the 275 monitored coastal beaches that Florida monitored, 92 (33 percent) had at least one notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately the same as in previous years. How many notification actions were issued and how long did they last? Florida issued 215 notification actions during the 2011 swimming season. Typically Florida lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that water quality complies with applicable standards. For the majority of actions (65 percent) 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 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 • To the Beach) • To the Beach) MTo the Beach) IK To the Beach) 97.4% 97.6% 96.9% 95.2% 94.7% 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 100,740 beach days were associated with the swimming seasons of the 275 monitored Florida beaches. Florida reported notification actions on 2,632 days, meaning that beaches were open and safe for swimming about 97 percent of the time. This continues the trend of consistently high percentages of open beach days at state beaches (Figure 4). For More Information For information about the Florida beach program contact: David Polk Florida Department of Health Tel: 850-245-4444 e-mail: david polk@doh.state.fl.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/. ------- |