United States
                  Environmental Protection Agency
      Office of Water
      Mail Code 4305T
-820-F-03-00
October 2008
     Data User  Corner:  eBeaches Enables Fast and
   Secure Transmission  of Beach  Water Quality and
                 Swimming Advisory Information
What is eBeaches'?

eBeaches is an online process for coastal and
Great Lakes states to electronically transmit
beach water quality and swimming advisory
information to EPA . The process is part of a
national effort to ensure the safe enjoyment of
America's beaches. eBeaches facilitates fast,
easy, and secure transmittal of beach water
quality information and improves public access
to information about beach conditions and health
risks associated with swimming in polluted
water.
Why did we develop eBeaches^

The goal of eBeaches is to provide the most
recent beach information to the public. We can
quickly receive and display accurate information
about beach water quality and swimming
advisories as soon as those state and local
agencies send us the data. We developed
eBeaches to fulfill a BEACH Act requirement.
eBeaches is also part of an Agency initiative to
move toward electronic reporting. eBeaches
replaced a paper survey that we used since 1997
to make it easier and faster for state and local
agencies to send beach data to us over the
Internet. Visitors can visit BEACON (BEach
Advisories and Closings Online Notification
system) to see if the water at a specific beach is
monitored, who does the monitoring, what
pollutants are monitored, and whether advisories
or closures have been issued in the past.
How does eBeaches reduce
reporting burdens and costs to state
and local governments?
Through eBeaches we can receive data
electronically through the (CDX) Central Data
Exchange, the central receiving point for
environmental data. eBeaches saves time and
money by enabling electronic transactions and
eliminating tedious paper forms and outdated
methods of data entry. eBeaches is a secure
electronic environment for faster, and easier
click-and-send reporting.
How are data received and stored
through the eBeaches process?

Beach water quality, swimming advisory, and
monitoring program data are transmitted to us
through CDX. CDX provides built-in data
quality checks, web forms, standard file formats,
and a common, user-friendly approach to
reporting environmental data. EPA partners
submit water quality and beach advisory data
through CDX, and it is stored in a variety of
EPA databases. Beach water quality data stored
in our STORET (STOrage and RETrieval)
database, a repository for water quality,
biological, and physical data. Local beach
program and advisory data are stored  in our
PRAWN (PRogram tracking, beach Advisory,
Water quality standard, and Nutrient) database.
Beach location data are stored in our Watershed
Assessment, Tracking, and Environmental
Results System (WATERS). The public can
access this data through BEACON.

eBeaches also allows state and local  agencies to
create and display maps of the beaches they are
monitoring. Using the National Hydrographic
Database Reach Indexing (NHD-RIT), states or
local agencies can make available beach maps

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that are geographically linked to water quality
and swimming advisory data and information
about surrounding watersheds.

Related Links

    •   eBEACHES Data Flow Diagram (PDF) (3
       PP, 19K)
    •   CDX
    •   STORE!
    •   BEACON
    •   NHD-RIT
    •   WATERS

For More Information

Contact Bill Kramer (202-566-0385 or
kramer.bill(g),epa.gov).

For information about a specific beach go
to: http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.

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