&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              Georgia  2012  Swimming Season
              September 2013
                      EPA820-F-13-023
  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 Georgia for the 2012 swimming season.


  2012 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Georgia monitored 26 coastal beaches in three
  counties during the 2012 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, Georgia officials issue a
  beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
  swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2012, of the 26 coastal beaches that Georgia
  monitored,  seven (27 percent) had at least one
  notification action (Figure 2). The Southeast, and
  particularly Georgia, was unusually dry in 2012.
  This condition was likely a factor in causing fewer
  actions at beaches than previous years.
 Figure 1. Georgia coastal counties
                          Chatham
                        Liberty

                        Mclntosh
                         Glynn

                      Camden
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2012

County
CAMDEN
CHATHAM
GLYNN
LIBERTY
MCINTOSH
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
2
13
19
1
6
41

Monitored
0
8
16
0
2
26
Not
Monitored
2
5
3
1
4
15

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   Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
            more notification actions
  Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
            actions in 2012
                     Over 30 days
                         19%
      8-30 days
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Georgia issued 21 notification actions during the
2012 swimming season. Typically Georgia lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For two-thirds of the actions 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
   Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
            and safe for swimming

                                                        2012

                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
                                  99.1%
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2012 EPA calculated
that 8,460 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 26 monitored Georgia
beaches. Georgia reported notification actions on
386 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 95 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at beaches in
Georgia (Figure 4).


For More Information
For information about the Georgia beach program
contact:
Elizabeth Cheney
Coastal Resources Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Tel: 912-264-7218
e-mail: Elizabeth.Cheney@coastal.dnr.state.ga.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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