Reports and References

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• Legislation
• Technical Reports and Reference
• Newsletters and Databases

Legislation

• Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000 (PDF)

Technical Reports and Reference

• List of beaches under the BEACH Act (October 2008)
  • Fact Sheet
• Beach Sanitary Survey Tools (May 2008)
• National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants
• Implementing the BEACH Act of 2000 Report to Congress (October 2006)
• The EMPACT Beaches Project: Results from a Study on Microbiological Monitoring in Recreational Waters.
  EPA has published the results of a research project on sampling bacteria in waters designated for recreational use. The report identifies characteristics of a beach environment that were found to have the most influence on the measurement of beach water quality.
  • Fact Sheet (August 2005)
  • EMPACT Report (PDF) (August 2005) (EPA 600/R-04/023; 83 pages, 955 K)
• Tropical indicator workshop proceedings
  (November 14, 2003) The overall goal of this workshop was to address issues identified under the “Tropical Indicators” section of the EPA Action Plan for Beaches and Recreational Waters (PDF) (EPA 600/R-98/079; 27 pages, 1.1 Mb; March 1999).
• EPA Status Report: Bacterial Water Quality Standards for Recreational Waters (Freshwater and Marine Waters) (June 19, 2003)
  This Status Report provided a brief overview of the bacterial water quality standards that have been adopted by states for their marine and fresh recreational waters in the United States. This report is based on consultations with EPA water quality standards coordinators.
• Time-Relevant Beach and Recreational Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting (PDF) (2.1 Mb, 59 pages; October 2002)
  This handbook provides information on how to design and implement a time-relevant water quality monitoring program for beaches and other recreational waters. The handbook is intended for people who are considering developing a recreational water quality monitoring program for their community or wish to enhance their existing program.
• Assessing and Monitoring Floatable Debris
  Assessing and Monitoring Floatable Debris is designed to assist states, tribes, and local governments in developing their own assessment and monitoring programs for floatable debris in coastal recreation waters.
• Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Bacteria (PDF) (24 pp., 155 K; 1986)
• Improved Enumeration Methods for the Recreational Water Quality Indicators: Enterococci and Escherichia coli (PDF) (350 K, 53 pages)
• Review of Potential Modeling Tools and Approaches to Support the BEACH Program (PDF) (141 K, 42 pages)
  This modeling report summarizes the predictive tools used by local beach-water-quality monitoring officials to determine if a health advisory or beach closure is needed. These and other EPA models are being evaluated to determine their applicability to real-time prediction of pathogen concentrations in the water at local beaches.
  • Appendices (PDF) (395 K, 27 pages)
• EPA Action Plan for Beaches and Recreational Waters (PDF) (EPA 600/R-98/079; 27 pages, 1.1 Mb; March 1999)
  EPA is implementing a series of key actions to ensure that beaches are safe for swimming. EPA developed the Action Plan for Beaches and Recreational Waters (Beach Action Plan) to assist state, tribal and local authorities in strengthening programs that protect users of recreational waters.
• Test Methods for Biological Polluants in Ambient Water
  These analytical methods are published for use in the BEACH Program and are a revision of our previous enterococci method issued in 1986.
• 1999 Great Lakes Maps

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Newsletters and Databases

• Beach Currents Newsletters
• BEACON - Beach Advisory and Closing On-line Notification
  This database describes the results of beach monitoring conducted by state and local environmental and public health officials.