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EPA's BEACH Report:
Florida 2007 Swimming Season
July 2008
fflntroduction
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 2007 swimming season.
During 2007 Florida monitored 308 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. The only other coastal county has no
accessible beaches along the gulf. All 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;
late April to mid-September are the peak season in
most of the state. 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
snorklers, surfers, and divers enter Florida water's
each year.
The year 2007 saw an increase in the number of
advisory days in Florida. This corresponds with the
ending of a major drought affecting the majority
of the state. Runoff from rain events is listed as a
possible source of contamination at a large number
of Florida beaches. Fewer tropical weather systems
impacting the state in 2007 also greatly reduced the
need for preemptive and storm-generated advisories
compared to years past.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
BAY
34
13
21
BREVARD
27
10
17
BROWARD
19
15
4
CHARLOTTE
11
8
3
CITRUS
1
1
0
COLLIER
56
14
42
DIXIE
1
1
0
DUVAL
10
10
0
ESCAMBIA
20
14
6
FLAGLER
9
6
3
FRANKLIN
7
6
1
GULF
7
6
1
HERNANDO
1
1
0
HILLSBOROUGH
11
9
2
INDIAN RIVER
18
6
12
LEE
23
13
10
LEVY
2
1
1
MANATEE
13
10
3
MARTIN
23
9
14
MIAMI-DADE
17
15
2
MONROE
45
17
28
NASSAU
30
11
19
OKALOOSA
53
12
41
PALM BEACH
24
14
10
PASCO
7
7
0
PINELLAS
48
14
34
SANTA ROSA
10
7
3
SARASOTA
34
16
18
ST. JOHNS
8
8
0
ST. LUCIE
25
4
21
TAYLOR
5
4
1
VOLUSIA
16
15
1
WAKULLA
2
2
0
WALTON
17
9
8
TOTALS
634
308
326
Wakulla
Citrus
Hernam
Pasco
Hillsboroug
Pinellas :
Manatee
Sarasota
Indian River
St^Lucie
"Martin
Collie;
Miami-Dade
.Johns
sler
Figure 1. Florida coastal
counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored
coastal beaches by county for 2007.

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Florida's 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 99 monitored beaches had at least
one advisory issued during the 2007 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 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 Florida's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 59 percent of the beaches
did not have any pollution sources listed.
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.

900 -

800 "
V)
c
700 "
600 -
o
o
500 -
<

o
400 "
o
300 "
z


200 -

100 -

782


39
1
.




0
1 - 2 Days 3 - 7 Days 8 - 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
> 30 Days
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
313
307
308
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
124
104
99
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
40%
34%
32%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
5%
4%
5%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (308 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
I 59
Beach days
with no action
106,467
(94.7%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
5,953
(5.3%)

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