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Report to Congress
Our coastal beaches are one of our nation's natural treasures. We have recognized the need for improved protection of public health at beaches, including stronger beach monitoring programs. In 2000 Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act. The Act established uniform criteria for testing, monitoring, and notifying public users of possible coastal recreation water problems.
This Report to Congress (October 2006) documents the significant progress that EPA and its partners have made in implementing the BEACH Act.
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- Fact Sheet about the Report to Congress (Print Version (PDF) (5 pages, 438 K)), October 2006
- Cover & Table of Contents (PDF) (11 pages, 1.2 MB)
- Executive Summary (PDF) (6 pages, 1.5 MB)
- Chapter 1: Introduction (PDF) (4 pages, 2.3 MB)
- What is the nature of the problem?
- What is the BEACH Act?
- Organization of the Report to Congress
- References
- Chapter 2: Health Concerns at Beaches (PDF) (6 pages, 535 K)
- What are pathogens and bacterial indicators?
- What are the health concerns at beaches?
- References
- Chapter 3: Water Quality Criteria and Quality of Water at Beaches (PDF) (10 pages, 4.7 MB)
- Existing criteria and standards
- Water quality criteria under development by EPA
- Survey of beach advisories and closings
- Major sources affecting water quality at beaches
- Recommendations for actions to improve beach water quality
- Improving beach water quality through related programs
- References
- Chapter 4: Evaluation of Federal, State, and Local Efforts to Implement the BEACH Act (PDF) (26 pages, 8.1 MB)
- What has EPA done?
- What have other federal agencies done?
- What have state and territorial governments done?
- What have tribal governments done?
- What have state and territorial governments done?
- What have local governments done?
- What have state and territorial governments done?
- References
- Chapter 5: Improvements to Methodologies and Techniques for Monitoring Coastal Recreation Waters (PDF) (4 pages, 141 K)
- What monitoring research has EPA conducted?
- What modeling work has been conducted?
- References
- Appendix A: BEACH Act of 2000
- Appendix B: State and Territory Highlights (PDF) (30 pages, 236 K)
- Appendix C: BEACH-related References (PDF) (2 pages, 53 K)
- National Beach Conference Proceedings (October 2004)
- Tropical Indicators Workshop (March 2001)
- Appendix D: Other Research Related to BEACH Act Objectives (PDF) (6 pages, 79 K)
- Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Grants
- Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE) Grants
- Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program
- Full Report (PDF) (111 pages, 6.9 MB, two-color)
