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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

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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%)

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