&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Florida 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
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 Florida for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Florida monitored 261 coastal beaches in
29 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, Florida officials issue a
beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
swimming.
Figure 1. Florida coastal counties
EPA820-F-13-037
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2012
County
BAY
BREVARD
BROWARD
CHARLOTTE
CITRUS
COLLIER
DIXIE
DUVAL
ESCAMBIA
FLAGLER
FRANKLIN
GULF
HERNANDO
HILLSBOROUGH
INDIAN RIVER
LEE
LEW
MANATEE
MARTIN
MIAMI-DADE
MONROE
NASSAU
OKALOOSA
PALM BEACH
PASCO
PIN ELLAS
SANTA ROSA
SARASOTA
ST. JOHNS
ST. LUCIE
TAYLOR
VOLUSIA
WAKULLA
WALTON
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
16
27
19
11
1
56
1
10
18
9
7
7
1
9
17
23
2
12
21
19
39
30
27
24
7
48
10
34
8
25
5
16
2
12
573
Monitored
10
8
13
8
0
10
0
10
10
6
5
6
0
9
6
13
0
7
8
16
11
10
14
13
5
10
5
16
6
4
0
13
2
7
261
Not
Monitored
6
19
6
3
1
46
1
0
8
3
2
1
1
0
11
10
2
5
13
3
28
20
13
11
2
38
5
18
2
21
5
3
0
5
312
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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 2012
Over 30 days
6%
1-2 days
14%
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 261 coastal beaches that Florida
monitored, 82 (31 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?
Florida issued 239 notification actions during the
2012 swimming season. Typically Florida lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (60 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
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach)
MTo the Beach }
IB To the Beach }
96.6%
97.4%
97.6%
96.9%
95.2%
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 2012 EPA calculated
that 82,318 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 261 monitored Florida
beaches. Florida reported notification actions on
2,819 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 at beaches in
Florida (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Florida beach program
contact:
David Polk
Florida Department of Health
Tel: 850-245-4444
e-mail: david polk@doh.state.fl.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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