&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Mississippi 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-050
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 Mississippi for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Mississippi monitored 22 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, Mississippi officials issue
a beach advisory, warning people of possible risks
of swimming.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 22 coastal beaches that Mississippi
monitored, 21 (96 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This increase was
due to Hurricane Isaac which caused widespread
flooding and debris hazards at practically all the
beaches along the Mississippi coast.
Figure 1. Mississippi coastal counties
1 County
HANCOCK
HARRISON
JACKSON
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
4
13
5
22
Monitored
4
13
5
22
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
by county for 2012
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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
1-2 days
>30 days
36%
3-7 days
31%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Mississippi issued 36 notification actions during the
2012 swimming season. Typically Mississippi lifts
an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
Twenty-one of the actions were triggered by
Hurricane Isaac which hit the Mississippi coast
on August 29. Beaches were closed between 14
and 60 days, depending on the location. Figure 3
displays action durations for all the actions issued
in the swimming season.
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
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
M To the Beach)
• To the Beach
• To the Beach
, 80.0%
98.6%
k.
To the Beach)
98.6%
98.2%
95.4%
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 4,686 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 22 monitored Mississippi
beaches. Mississippi reported notification actions
on 929 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 80 percent of the time.
This lower percentage is reflective of the impact of
Hurricane Isaac (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Mississippi beach
program contact:
Emily Cotton
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Tel: 228-432-1056
e-mail: Emily Cotton@deq.state.ms.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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