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EPA's BEACH Report:
Texas 2007 Swimming Season
July 2008
Introduction
The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal
and Great Lakes states and territories report
to EPA on beach monitoring and notification
data for their coastal recreation waters. The
BEACH Act defines coastal recreation waters as
the Great Lakes and coastal waters (including
coastal estuaries) that states, territories,
and authorized tribes officially recognize or
designate for swimming, bathing, surfing, or
similar activities in the water.
This fact sheet summarizes beach monitoring
and notification data submitted to EPA by the
State of Texas for the 2007 swimming season.
The Texas Beach Watch Program collects water
samples from 167 stations along the Texas coast
in Aransas, Brazoria, Cameron, Galveston,
Jefferson, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces and San
Patricio counties. The Texas General Land Office
contracts with universities, local governments
and commercial laboratories to collect the
samples and test them for the presence of
Enterococcus bacteria. Samples are collected
and tested weekly from May through September
(the peak beach season) and every other week
from October through April. In addition, weekly
samples are collected at Gulf of Mexico beaches
during March to coincide with Spring Break and
the increased number of tourists.
The year 2007 saw a decrease in the number
of advisory days during the beach season.
In addition, the percentage of beaches and
beach days affected by notification actions also
decreased all while the number of beaches
monitored and miles of beach increased.
Texas also saw above normal rainfall in 2007
compared to 2006 (based on data from the
National Climatic Data Center). Normally an
increase in rainfall would portend an increase
in actions; however, this was not the case.
All monitored recreational beaches in
Texas now have public notification signage
indicating whether contact with beach water is
recommended based on the most recent testing.
Figure 1. Texas coastal counties.
Chambers
Harris
Brazoria
Refugio
'Matalorda
Calhou
Aransas
San Patricio
Nueces
Kleberg
Willacy
Cameron
efferson
Iveston
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
ARANSAS
9
1
8
BRAZORIA
10
5
5
CALHOUN
18
0
18
CAMERON
12
9
3
CHAMBERS
2
0
2
GALVESTON
36
24
12
HARRIS
8
0
8
JEFFERSON
2
2
0
KLEBERG
7
4
3
MATAGORDA
12
4
8
NUECES
42
17
25
REFUGIO
1
0
1
SAN PATRICIO
6
1
5
WILLACY
3
0
3
TOTALS
168
67
101

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2
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• 2 Days
3-7 Days 8 - 30 Days > 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
2007 Summary Results	Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
How many notification actions were reported and
how long were they?	2001
Texas' approach is to issue a beach advisory when water
quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach
that warns people to avoid contact with the water. A
total of 50 monitored beaches had at least one advisory
issued during the 2007 swimming season. About 83
percent of Texas' 236 notification actions lasted two
days or less. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of
notification action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Texas' 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported about 5 percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2007 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2007 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
What pollution sources impact monitored beaches?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Texas' monitored
beaches potentially impacted by various pollution
sources. In 2007, 85 percent of the beaches were not
investigated for sources of pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For more information about water quality conditions go
to: www.TexasBeachWatch.com.
Additional information regarding the Texas Beach
Watch Program is available at www.glo.state.tx.us/
coastal/beachwatch, by contacting the Beach Watch
Coordinator at beachwatch@glo.state.tx.us, or by calling
the Texas General Land Office at l-(800) 998-4GLO.
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (67 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
Figure 3: Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
549
(5%)
Beach days
with no action:
10,434
(95%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
57
62
67
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
40
50
50
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
70%
81%
75%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
3%
6%
5%
Pollution sources not investigated
Agricultural runoff
Boat discharge
Cone, animal feeding operation
Publicly-owned treatment works
Non-storm related runoff
Septic system leakage
Sewer line leak or break
Sanitary/Combined sewer overflow
Storm-related runoff
Wildlife
Other and/or unidentified sources
No known pollution sources
~ 85
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.

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