United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water (4305) EPA 823-F-02-008 May 2002 EPA's BEACH Watch Program: 2001 Swimming Season Introduction The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is committed to the goal of reducing prob- lems from disease-causing microorganisms (pathogens) at recreational beaches. Through its BEACH Watch Program, the Agency strives to promote greater consistency in beach health programs and provide better information to the public. An important tool for gathering this information is the annual questionnaire EPA sends out to states, tribes, local governments, and other agencies that maintain swimming beaches. Participation is voluntary. The purpose of the questionnaire, called the National Health Protection Survey of Beaches, is threefold: 1. To create an accurate national inventory of swimming beaches and the agencies that maintain them. 2. To survey the water quality standards, monitoring methods, costs, and proce- dures agencies use to issue beach advisories and closings. 3. To document critical aspects of each beach advisory and closing issued throughout the swimming season including (1) the time length of the action, (2) the reason the action was taken, (3) and the source(s) of pollution that necessitated the action. This fact sheet reports on information collected about the 2001 swimming season. Figure 1. Number of beaches in the 2001 beach survey. Participated in the 2001 survey Not sent a 2001 questionnaire 23 ------- Survey Participation We contacted a total of 269 state and local agencies located mainly along ocean coasts and the Great Lakes to participate in EPA's 2001 beach survey. A total of 237 agencies (an 88 percent return) from 31 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands submitted information about their beaches (Figure 1). The number of beaches in the survey has grown from 1,021 in 1997 to 2,445 in 2001. Most survey respondents represent county governments or parishes (Figure 2). Figure 2. Types of respondents participating in the 2001 beach survey. State park 2% State (entire) 12% Region within a state (e.g., multiple counties 4% Other 1% National park' 2% City, Town, or Village 31% County or parish 42% Beaches Agencies participating in the 2001 beach survey provided EPA with information on 2,445 beaches. Of these beaches, 1,403 were coastal, 308 were on the Great Lakes, and 734 were on inland waterways. Advisory and Closings A beach advisory or closing typically occurs when monitoring results indicate that water quality is in violation of a water quality standard. Twenty-seven percent of the beaches (672 of 2,445 beaches) had at least one advisory or area closed during the 2001 swimming season. The main reason given for an advisory or closing was elevated bacteria levels (cited in 87 percent of the beach actions). ------- We asked survey respondents to identify the source(s) of the pollution that caused the advisory or closing. In many cases, the source was unknown, but the second largest was storm water runoff (Figure 3). A respondent could select more than one pollution source for each advisory or closing. Figure 3. Sources of pollution that resulted in advisories and closings Boat Septic l-"-'ai *>« "»*'-« ••« POTW ^.1% sso ' Sewer line blockage/break 4% Notes: CSO: Combined Sewer Overflow SSO: Sanitary Sewer Overflow POTW: Publicly Owned Storm water ^| £ Treatment Works runoff 20% Trends Since it began in 1997, we have expanded the EPA beach survey to include 237 agencies and 2,445 beaches. As a result, the survey covers more beach miles and collects more information concerning advisories and closings (Table 1). Table 1. Trends in agency participation, number of beaches, and advisories and closings for 1997-2000. Number of agencies participating in the survey Number of beaches reported Number of beaches affected by one or more advisories or closings Percentage of beaches affected by one or more advisories or closings 2001 237 2,445 672 27 2000 236 2,354 633 27 1999 235 1,891 459 24 1998 217 1,403 353 25 1997 159 1,021 230 23 Water Quality Standards Agencies in charge of protecting the health of swimmers typically monitor for water quality standards at their beaches. These standards vary among programs depending on whether it is a freshwater or coastal beach, among other factors. Most standards are based on the risk of human exposure to pathogens. ------- Because detection is difficult and expensive, pathogens themselves are not usually measured directly. Instead, one or more "indicator organisms" are measured and used to predict the presence of pathogens. In 1986, EPA published a report that recommended water quality criteria for two indicator organisms, Escherichia coli and enterococci. The report concluded that these two indicator organisms are better suited for predicting the presence of pathogens that cause gastrointestinal illness than are total and fecal coliform bacteria, the two indicator organisms used in the past to determine the safety of recreational waters. Some agencies have adopted E. coli and enterococci as indicators; others have not. Many agencies use multiple indicators to determine the safety of their waters. The total number of programs that reported the use of E. coli, enterococci, total coliform, and/or fecal coliform concentrations as part of their standards for marine waters and freshwaters are presented in Table 2. Table 2. Number of agencies, types of indicator organisms, and type of standard used to determine swimming safety. Indicator Organisms E. coli Enterococci Total coliforms Fecal coliforms Marine Water Instantaneous Standard 9 73 31 57 Sample Average Standard 7 76 26 60 Indicator Organisms E. coli Enterococci Total coliforms Fecal coliforms Freshwater Instantaneous Standard 55 24 23 55 Sample Average Standard 55 26 25 66 Notes: An agency can use multiple indicators. "Instantaneous standard" refers to a standard in which the density of the indicator for any single sample must not be exceeded. "Sample average standard" refers to a standard that must not be exceeded based on an average density calculated from two or more (optimally five) samples taken over an established period of time (typically a 30-day period). Monitoring EPA's Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Bacteria—1986 recommends monitoring five times per month for E. coli and enterococci. The survey results indicated that 91 percent of the beaches had some type of water quality monitoring program, but the monitoring frequencies varied. Sixty-three percent of the beaches were monitored at least once a week. For More Information EPA provides detailed results of the 2001 survey at the Agency's BEACH Watch web site, http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches. The web site provides detailed information on the hundreds of individual coastal, Great Lakes, and freshwater beaches that participated in the survey. You can also find other information on local beach programs and health issues, as well as contacts and links, at this site. ------- |