&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
New Jersey 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-046
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 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
New Jersey monitored 315 coastal beaches in
four 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, 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 2012
County
ATLANTIC
CAPE MAY
MONMOUTH
OCEAN
TOTALS
Total Beaches
209
369
176
524
1,278
Monitored
44
70
44
157
315
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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
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 315 coastal beaches that New
Jersey monitored, 136 (43 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). The primary reason
for the increase of beaches with actions was a
sewer overflow that occured on June 16, 2012 on
Long Beach Island (Ocean County). Many beaches
in this stretch were closed for a day for cleanup and
inspection.
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
New Jersey issued 237 notification actions during the
2012 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).
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
To the Beach)
To the Beach)
To the Beach)
|§To the Beach)
99.2%
99.4%
99.5%
99.4%
99.7%
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
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2012 EPA calculated
that 30,879 beach days were associated with
the swimming seasons of the 315 monitored
New Jersey beaches. New Jersey reported
notification actions on 237 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 beaches in New Jersey (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.goy/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.
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