^tDsrx I Q % I®/ V pro'^ 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. ------- 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%) ------- |