&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Texas 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-044
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 Texas for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Texas reports 169 beaches located in 14 counties.
Texas monitored 62 of these beaches in nine
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, Texas officials issue a
beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
swimming.
Figure 1. Texas coastal counties
Refugio
San Patricio
Nuece
leberg
Matagorda
, alhoun
Aransas
Jefferson
Iveston
xWillacy
Cameron
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2012
County
ARANSAS
BRAZORIA
CALHOUN
CAMERON
CHAMBERS
GALVESTON
HARRIS
JEFFERSON
KLEBERG
MATAGORDA
NUECES
REFUGIO
SAN PATRICIO
WILLACY
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
9
10
18
12
2
36
8
2
7
12
43
1
6
3
169
Monitored
1
4
0
9
0
23
1
2
0
3
18
0
1
0
62
Not
Monitored
8
6
18
3
2
13
7
0
7
9
25
1
5
3
107
-------
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
8-30 days
1-2 days
85%
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 62 coastal beaches that Texas
monitored, 55 (89 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2).
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Texas issued 235 notification actions during the
2012 swimming season. Typically Texas lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (85 percent) water
quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or two days
(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)
|§To the Beach)
To the Beach)
98.0%
98.8%
98.5%
99.0%
98.1%
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 22,630 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 62 monitored Texas
beaches. Texas reported notification actions on
442 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 98 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at swimming
beaches in Texas (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Texas beach program
contact:
Craig Davis
General Land Office
Tel: 512-463-8126
e-mail: Craig.Davis@glo.state.tx.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/.
------- |