Beaches
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Find Information about a Particular U.S. Beach

There are four ways you can find information about beaches in the U.S.:

  1. Find out if the Water Quality of a Beach is Monitored
  2. Find out which Beaches are Closed Now or have Health Advisories Now
  3. Find out which Beaches were Closed or under Health Advisories in the Recent Past
  4. Read Reports EPA has Released

Find out if the Water Quality of a Beach is Monitored

Visit the interactive National List of Beaches to view if a beach is monitored
EPA maintains a list of beaches (and similar points of access to coastal recreation waters) used by the public, as required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act. This National List of Beaches provides information whether a beach that is included in a water quality monitoring and public notification program is monitored or not, or if it is not part of the program (those are shown as “Tier 4” in the list). You can select a jurisdiction’s name to get information on individual beaches. The list contains the most recent information that states, territories, and tribes with coastal and Great Lakes beaches have submitted to EPA. You can also access pdf versions of the list from 2004, 2008, and 2010.

U.S. Tropical IslandsAlaskaNortheastSoutheastMidwestGreat PlainsSouthwestNorthwest

Map showing states, territories and tribes covered by BEACH Act: AL, AK, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, WI, AS, GU, NP, PR, VI, Grand Portage Chippewa, Bad River Chippewa, Makah

Find out which Beaches are Closed Now or have Health Advisories Now

States, tribes, territories, and local governments decide whether to open or close a beach. Select the map link to connect to their advisory sites or to directly reach out to your state, tribe, or territory beach contact.

Find out which Beaches were Closed or under Health Advisories in the Recent Past

Use BEACON’s map database to find reports of health advisories
EPA’s BEACON (Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification) is a national database that contains beach monitoring and notification data reported by states, territories, and tribes. BEACON can produce maps to show the location of more than 6,000 beaches covered by the BEACH Act, and the related water quality monitoring stations, on either road maps or satellite base maps. BEACON can generate reports and trends at the national, state/tribal/territorial, and local levels. The BEACON 2.0 User's Guide describes how to use the online BEACON 2.0 system to obtain reported beach monitoring and notification data.

States, territories, and tribes receiving beach grants submit information on beach monitoring and closures and advisories to EPA, but they are only required to submit that information once a year, although some report more frequently. Therefore, BEACON has information about the previous year and earlier, but it does not have current information about advisories or closings.

Read Reports EPA has Released

EPA releases a report every year on beach closing and advisories and sends a report to Congress every four years on implementation of the BEACH Act.

Annual Swimming Season Reports

EPA releases an annual report that contains national-level statistics of beach closings and advisories that states, territories, and tribes issued during the swimming season as well as beach data trends over several years.

You can also create a report for any year from 2014 to the present that uses the most up-to-date information in EPA’s database (that may have been updated after our reports were released) using the dynamic report.

Implementing the BEACH Act of 2000: Reports to Congress

Every four years EPA submits a report to Congress on the progress that states, tribes, territories, EPA, and other federal agencies have made on implementing the BEACH Act, as required in 33 U.S.C. 1375a.

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Last updated on January 19, 2024