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The BEACH Program focuses on the following five areas to meet
the program goals of improving public health and environmental
protection programs for beach goers and providing the public with
information about the quality of their beach water:
Strengthening beach standards and
testing. EPA encourages states and tribes to adopt updated
water quality criteria for E. coli and/or enterococcus
bacteria into their water quality standards. The Agency works
with states, tribes, and local governments to strengthen local
beach health monitoring efforts and procedures to achieve these
standards by providing technical guidance and training on new
test methods and predictive models. You may view our
summary report of state bacterial water quality standards
for recreational waters.
Providing faster laboratory test
methods. EPA has developed and is making available a new
laboratory test method for enterococcus bacteria, indicator organisms
for fecal contamination. This improved test method produces results
in 24 hours rather than the 48 hours required for existing test
methods. EPA provides technical assistance to state and private
laboratories to implement this new method. Use of this method
can result in earlier notification to the public about health
hazards at beaches.
Predicting pollution. EPA
works with other agencies at all levels of government to develop
and validate models to predict where and when beach pollution
is likely to occur. These models will assist public health officials
in determining when warnings may be necessary to alert beach goers
of potential problems during and immediately following a rain
storm or other pollution event. EPA will provide copies of the
models and training in their use when they become available.
Investing in health and methods
research. EPA sponsors research to improve the scientific
foundation in support of local, state, and tribal actions to protect
public health at bathing beaches. Discussions are underway to
identify critical areas of research that will likely include development
and validation of new methods and indicators to assess waterborne
pathogens.
Informing the public. The
BEACH Program is improving public access to information about
the quality of the water at their beaches and health risks associated
with swimming in polluted water. EPA operates a website on the
Internet, called "Beach Watch," which is an online directory of
information about the water quality at our nation's beaches, local
protection programs, and other beach-related programs. The "Beach
Watch" website is updated as new information becomes available;
the Internet address is http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/.
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