Welcome to the 2009 Briefing Series for Members of Congress and Staff

Second in the 2009 series

Beach Health: Safe to Swim?

When a local beach closes for health reasons, people start wondering, “Is it safe to swim?” USGS science can help local beach managers understand the sources of contamination and the kinds of contaminants that may affect human health, and the USGS has developed state-of-the-art methods and predictive models to rapidly evaluate whether unsafe conditions are present. Come learn how the USGS and its partners are working to provide and apply the science needed to ensure that our beaches are healthy places for people to enjoy.

• Shannon Briggs  (11.1 MB)
• Heather Morehead: Maryland Beaches Program  (5.5 MB)
• Richard Whitman: Beach Science for the New Millennium (3.7 MB)

Podcasts

• Watch a slideshow with audio highlights from the briefing.
• Listen to audio highlights of the briefing (without slides).
• Listen to the question and answer session following the briefing.

Handout from the briefing:

• Beach Monitoring and Forecasting Technologies  (PDF 2.4 MB)

• Great Lakes Task Force
• Representative James Moran
  

Speaker Biographies  

Shannon L. Briggs is a Senior Toxicologist and State Beach Coordinator for the Water Bureau of the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality. Dr. Briggs received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University in
Pharmacology and Toxicology. She is currently serving as a member of the Ocean and Health Working Group for
the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Science Advisory Board. She is also an active member, Past-
President, and co-founder of the Great Lakes Beach Association. She is an internationally recognized expert in
developing local and state beach monitoring programs. Her contributions include the development of BeachGuard
(software for managing beach data online), the Beach 101 Training Classes, and working with partners to develop
and implement the Great Lakes Beach Sanitary Survey. Dr. Briggs continues to work with partners to improve
water quality for beaches.

Heather Morehead works as the Beaches Coordinator for Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) in the
Science Services Administration (SSA). Heather has a B.S. degree in Wildlife Science from Virginia Tech in
Blacksburg, VA, and an M.S. degree in Environmental Science from Marshall University in Huntington, WV.
She worked for three years as an environmental scientist for KEMRON Environmental Services, Inc. and began
working at MDE in 2006. Heather has worked as the Beaches Coordinator for 3 years. She has enjoyed learning
about beach water quality and is looking forward to incorporating the new water quality standard into the program.

Richard L. Whitman is the station chief and a research ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes
Science Center, Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station. Dr. Whitman received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M
University in Wildlife and Fisheries Science. He was an associate professor at Indiana University NW for ten
years and served as chief scientist for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for six years before becoming the chief
of the Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station, where he has been for the past 15 years. He is currently
acting Chief of the Environmental Health and Restoration Branch of the Great Lakes Science Center. He is an
internationally recognized expert in the occurrence and distribution of indicator bacteria in temperate waters and
has produced over 150 scientific papers during his career. His scientific contributions include descriptions of new
species, identification of new exotic species within the Great Lakes, discovery of new, non-enteric sources of
indicator bacteria, and development of modeling paradigms for recreational water quality.

For information on the Briefing on Capitol Hill, please call 703-648-4455.