&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Puerto Rico 2011 Swimming Season
September 2012
EPA820-F-12-038
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
Puerto Rico for the 2011 swimming season.
Figure 1. Puerto Rico
Rincon
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Puerto Rico monitored 22 coastal beaches located
in 18 municipalities 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, Puerto Rico
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 Puerto
Rico monitored, 15 (68 percent) had at least one
notification action. This is approximately the same
as in previous years (Figure 2).
Cabo
Culebra
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
municipality for 2011.
Municipality
AGUADA
AGUADILLA
ANASCO
ARROYO
CABO ROJO
CAOLINA
CULEBRA
DORADO
FAJARDO
GUANICA
HUMACAO
LUQUILLO
PATILLAS
RINCON
SAN JUAN
TOA BAJA
VEGA ALTA
VEGA BAJA
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
22
Monitored
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
22
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
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Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
more notification actions
I 68%
Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
actions in 2011
8-30
67%
days
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Puerto Rico issued 27 notification actions during
the 2011 swimming season. Typically Puerto Rico
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For approximately a third of the actions,
(33 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
to better track trends over time. Total available
Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
and safe for swimming
2011 ir.HJJ:fAMlt> 96.6%
2010 I ir.ll!H:IBffy> 96.1%
2007 FWWf!I:f!lf5!¥\ 96.9%
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 8,030 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 22 monitored Puerto Rico
beaches. Puerto Rico reported notification actions
on 274 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 (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Puerto Rico beach
program contact:
Angel R. Melendez Aguilar
Environmental Quality Board
Tel: 787-767-8181
e-mail: angelmelendez@jca.gobierno.pr
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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