Data and Reports about Beach Health
- Annual Swimming Season Statistics
To help beachgoers make informed decisions about swimming at U.S. Coastal and Great Lakes beaches, EPA annually publishes a national summary report about beach closings and advisories for the previous year's swimming season. Read about the 2012 national beach monitoring and notification statistics as well as recent developments in EPA's beach program. You can also find state-by-state data here.
- BEACON—Beach Advisory and Water Quality Data
EPA created the Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification (BEACON) system to meet the Agency's requirement to provide to the public a database of pollution occurrences for coastal recreation waters. BEACON contains state-reported beach monitoring and notification data. EPA recently updated BEACON to include several enhancements and has named the new system BEACON 2.0.- The BEACON 2.0 User's Guide describes how to use the online BEACON 2.0 system to obtain state-reported beach monitoring and notification data.
- The Submitting Data to EPA page provides resources and reference materials for state beach program managers and IT staff responsible for submitting beach monitoring (water quality), notification (advisory and closing), and beach location data to EPA as required by the BEACH Act.
- National List of Beaches
EPA maintains a list of coastal recreation waters adjacent to beaches (or similar points of access) used by the public in the U.S. The list, required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act), identifies waters that are subject to a state beach water quality monitoring and public notification program consistent with the National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for BEACH Act Grants. The list contains the most recent information reported to EPA by coastal and Great Lakes states, territories, and eligible tribes.