&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
New Jersey 2011 Swimming Season
September 2012
EPA820-F-12-045
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 New Jersey for the 2011 swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
New Jersey monitored 219 coastal beaches in
four 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, New Jersey officials issue
a beach advisory, warning people of possible
risks of swimming or close the beach to public
swimming until further monitoring finds that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
In some cases, advisories and closings are issued
preemptively (i.e., without having actual bacteria
monitoring results) due to storms or other
conditions that might affect swimmer safety.
Figure 1. New Jersey coastal counties.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2011.
County
ATLANTIC
CAPE MAY
MONMOUTH
OCEAN
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
37
69
50
63
219
Monitored
37
69
50
63
219
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
-------
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
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011, of the 219 coastal beaches that New
Jersey monitored, 21 (10 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?
New Jersey issued 131 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically New Jersey lifts
an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the all the actions (100 percent) water quality
returned to normal and beaches were deemed safe
for swimming within one day (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)
To the Beach)
|§To the Beach)
99.4%
99.5%
99.4%
99.7%
99.6%
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 22,119 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 219 monitored New
Jersey beaches. New Jersey reported notification
actions on 131 days, meaning that beaches were
open and safe for swimming over 99 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 New Jersey beach
program contact:
Virginia Loftin
Department of Environmental Protection
Tel: 609-984-5599
e-mail: virginia.loftin@dep.state.nj.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/.
------- |