$ K \ ^6DSrX Q ® * EPA's BEACH Report: Florida 2010 Swimming Season May 2011 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 Florida for the 2010 swimming season. During 2010 Florida monitored 309 beaches along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. These beaches are located in 34 of Florida's 35 coastal counties. One coastal county has no accessible beaches along the Gulf. In total, there are approximately 1,100 miles of recreational beaches in Florida, and approximately 600 miles are monitored at least once per week, year round. The geography of these beaches varies from open coasts on barrier islands to more enclosed bays, sounds, and intra- coastal water ways. Florida's beaches are heavily used most of the year. April through September is the peak swimming season, with winter visitors still swimming during the colder months in the southern third of the state. Surfers ply the state's waters year round. The state's population is estimated at 18 million, and approximately 70 million tourists visit per year. Estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) place the number of swimmers at just over 14 million a year. In addition, NOAA estimates that another 3.5 million snorkelers, surfers, and divers enter Florida's water each year. Notification actions directly attributable to the oil spill that resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion on the BP leased Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform are not included in the summary statistics presented on page 2 of this report. A total of 37 beach days at 9 monitored beaches had oil-related notification actions during the 2010 swimming season. Nassau Walton Wakulla Tav or St. Johns Flaqler C trus Brevard Hillsborough Pine Indian River Mana St. Lucie arc sota Char Palm Beach Co her Miami-Dade Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2010. County Total Beaches Monitored Not Monitored BAY 16 13 3 BREVARD 27 9 18 BROWARD 19 15 4 CHARLOTTE 10 8 2 CITRUS 1 1 0 COLLIER 56 14 42 DIXIE 1 1 0 DUVAL 10 10 0 ESCAMBIA 18 12 6 FLAGLER 9 6 3 FRANKLIN 6 6 0 GULF 7 7 0 HERNANDO 1 1 0 HILLSBOROUGH 9 9 0 INDIAN RIVER 16 6 10 LEE 19 13 6 LEVY 2 1 1 MANATEE 11 10 1 MARTIN 21 9 12 MIAMI-DADE 19 18 1 MONROE 39 17 22 NASSAU 29 11 18 OKALOOSA 26 12 14 PALM BEACH 24 14 10 PASCO 7 7 0 PINELLAS 42 14 28 SANTA ROSA 10 7 3 SARASOTA 33 16 17 ST. JOHNS 8 8 0 ST. LUCIE 25 4 21 TAYLOR 5 4 1 VOLUSIA 16 15 1 WAKULLA 2 2 0 WALTON 12 9 3 TOTALS 556 309 247 ------- 2010 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? When water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach, Florida issues a beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the water. A total of 83 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2010 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification action durations. What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action? For Florida's 2010 swimming season, actions were reported about two percent of the time (Figure 3). How do 2010 results compare to previous years? Table 2 compares 2010 notification action data with monitored beach data from previous years. What pollution sources possibly affect investigated monitored beaches? Figure 4 displays the percentage of Florida's investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by various pollution sources. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in Florida go to: www, doh.state.fl.us (Select "Beach Water Quality" from the subject list.) Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 1 2 3-7 8-30 >30 Duration of Actions (Days) Figure 3: Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010. 2008 2009 2010 Number of monitored beaches 305 305 309 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 109 102 83 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 36% 33% 27% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 5% 3% 2% Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by possible pollution sources (309 beaches). Percent of beaches 0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Investigated / no sources found Non-storm related runoff Storm-related runoff Agricultural runoff Boat discharge Cone, animal feeding operation Combined sewer overflow Sanitary sewer overflow Publicly-owned treatment works Sewer line leak or break Septic system leakage Wildlife Other (identified) source(s) Unidentified source(s) 1 23 21 21 21 10 32 52 Note: A single beach may have multiple sources. 53 57 Beach days with no action - 110,140 (97.7%) Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 2,645 (2.3%) ------- |