&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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