&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Virgin Islands 2011 Swimming Season
September 2012
EPA 820-F-12-037
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
U.S. Virgin Islands for the 2011 swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Virgin Islands monitored 43 coastal beaches on
three islands 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, Virgin Islands officials
issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible
risks of swimming.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011, of the 43 coastal beaches that the Virgin
Islands monitored, 14 (33 percent) had at least one
notification action. This is approximately the same
as in the previous two years (Figure 2).
Figure 1. U.S. Virgin Islands
Island
ST. CROIX
ST. JOHN
ST. THOMAS
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
20
8
15
43
Monitored
20
8
15
43
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
St. Thomas
St. John
St. Croix
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
for 2011.
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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
97%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
The Virgin Islands issued 95 notification actions
during the 2011 swimming season. Typically
the Virgin Islands lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards. In all cases 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
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach \
MTo the Beach \
99.4%
99.6%
99.5%
99.6%
99.9%
the number of beaches in the state. For 2011
EPA calculated that 15,695 beach days were
associated with the swimming seasons of the
43 monitored Virgin Islands beaches. The Virgin
Islands reported notification actions on 95 days,
meaning that beaches were open and safe for
swimming approximately 99 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Virgin Islands beach
program contact:
Leah Motta
Virgin Islands Department of Planning and
Natural Resources
Tel: 340-773-1082
e-mail: leahmotta@hotmail.com
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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