2008 Swimming Season Update

Features

Florida

May 2009

Introduction
2008 Summary Results
For More Information
PDF Version (2 pp, 485K, About PDF) of this document
Raw data (XLS) (562K) for Florida

Introduction

drawing of the state of Florida with counties identified in green

Figure 1. Florida coastal counties.

The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal and Great Lakes states and territories report to EPA on beach monitoring and notification data for their coastal recreation waters. The BEACH Act defines coastal recreation waters as the Great Lakes and coastal waters (including coastal estuaries) that states, territories, and authorized tribes officially recognize or designate for swimming, bathing, surfing, or similar activities in the water.

This fact sheet summarizes beach monitoring and notification data submitted to EPA by the State of Florida for the 2008 swimming season.

During 2008 Florida monitored 305 beaches along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. These beaches are located in 34 of Florida's 35 coastal counties. The only other coastal county has no accessible beaches along the gulf. In total, there are approximately 1,100 miles of recreational beaches in Florida, and approximately 600 miles are monitored at least once per week, year round. The geography of these beaches varies from open coasts on barrier islands to more enclosed bays, sounds, and intra-coastal water ways.

Florida's beaches are heavily used most of the year; late April to mid-September are the peak season in most of the state. The state's population is estimated at 18 million, and approximately 70 million tourists visit per year. Estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) place the number of swimmers at just over 14 million a year. In addition, NOAA estimates that another 3.5 million snorkelers, surfers, and divers enter Florida water's each year.

Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2008.
County	Total Beaches	Monitored	Not Monitored
Bay	16	13	3
Brevard	27	9	18
Broward	19	15	4
Charlotte	9	7	2
Citrus	1	1	0
Collier	56	14	42
Dixie	1	1	0
Duval	10	10	0
Escambia	18	12	6
Flagler	9	6	3
Franklin	6	6	0
Gulf	7	6	1
Hernando	1	1	0
Hillsborough	9	9	0
Indian River	16	6	10
Lee	19	13	6
Levy	2	1	1
Manatee	11	10	1
Martin	21	9	12
Miami-Dade	16	15	1
Monroe	39	17	22
Nassau	29	11	18
Okaloosa	26	12	14
Palm Beach	24	14	10
Pasco	7	7	0
Pinellas	42	15	27
Santa Rosa	10	7	3
Sarasota	33	16	17
St. Johns	8	8	0
St. Lucie	25	4	21
Taylor	5	4	1
Volusia	16	15	1
Wakulla	2	2	0
Walton	12	9	3
Totals	552	305	247

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2008 Summary Results

How many notification actions were reported and how long were they?

Bar Graph of Beach notification actions by duration

Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.

When water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach, Florida's approach is to issue a beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the water. A total of 109 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2008 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification action durations.

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What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action?

Pie Chart of Beach days with and without notification actions

Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions.

For Florida's 2008 swimming season, actions were reported about 5 percent of the time (Figure 3).

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How do 2008 results compare to previous years?

Table 2 compares 2008 notification action data with monitored beach data from previous years.

Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008–2008.
Year	2007	2008	2008
Number of monitored beaches	307	308	305
Number of beaches affected by notification actions	104	99	109
Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions	34%	32%	36%
Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions	4%	5%	5%

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What pollution sources possibly affect investigated monitored beaches?

Figure 4 displays the percentage of Florida's investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by various pollution sources. In 2008, 58 percent of the beaches had unidentfied sources.