Fact Sheet: BEACH Act Locational Data

About the BEACH Act Program

The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) of 2000 requires coastal and Great Lakes states and territories to report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on beach monitoring, notification and geospatial data for their coastal recreation waters. The BEACH Act defines coastal recreation waters as the Great Lakes and marine coastal waters (including coastal estuaries) that states, territories, and authorized tribes (collectively referred to as “states” or “jurisdictions”) officially recognize or designate for swimming, bathing, surfing, or similar water contact activities. The BEACH Act Program focuses on the goals of improving public health and environmental protection for beach goers and providing the public with information about the quality of their beach water. Learn more about the BEACH Act Program.

How the EPA Collects Beach Locational Data

The EPA collects beach locational data in two ways. The EPA uses the Program tracking, beach Advisories, Water quality standards, and Nutrients (PRAWN) database to store the beach advisory, notification and geospatial data submitted by states. The EPA also uses the Water Quality Portal (WQP) to store the beach water quality monitoring and monitoring station location data submitted by states. The geospatial data enable the public to accurately associate beach advisory, notification and water quality monitoring data with their respective beaches using map viewing applications.

How the EPA Indexes Beach Locational Data

Upon collection, latitude and longitude data for beaches and monitoring stations are indexed to the EPA’s Reach Address Database (RAD), which stores the data for use by mapping applications. The RAD uses the National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) to provide a nationally normalized dataset. Moreover, the RAD provides the beach and monitoring station locations within the NHDPlus surface water drainage network in a manner similar to street addresses. Prior to releasing RAD indexed beach location data to the public, the data are sent to the respective jurisdictions for review and approval. Note that if a jurisdiction changes the categorization of a beach to either ‘dormant’ or ‘historical’, this change may not be immediately reflected in the data downloaded from the RAD.

How to Access BEACH Act Locational Data

You can access beach locational data through BEACON and quarterly datasets provided by the EPA.

Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification (BEACON)

BEACON provides an online searchable map viewer for accessing the most up-to-date beach locational data.

BEACH Act National Geospatial Dataset – Quarterly Snapshot

A quarterly snapshot of the locational dataset is available in several downloadable formats. The geospatial dataset contains both active and historical beaches, and selected PRAWN attributes.

Additional Ways to Access BEACH Act Data BEACON

In addition to providing locational data, BEACON offers numerous customizable reports for PRAWN and WQX/WQP data for BEACH Act beaches.

Annual Swimming Season Statistics (1999-2012)

Between 1999 and 2012, the EPA published a national summary report about the previous year’s swimming season data.

To view data by Beach ID, select an annual report, select a jurisdiction, open the raw data (XLS) file, and open the Attributes tab. The 2012 report is the final annual beach report. You can find the most
currently available swimming season statistics in BEACON.

WQX/WQP

Using a Project ID (aka Beach ID), raw water quality monitoring data can be downloaded from Water Quality Data. A guide to configuring reports of Beach Program water quality data can be found at Water Quality Portal Step-by-Step Guide. For data from more programs see Water Quality Portal User Guide.

BEACH Act Program and Locational Data Contacts

For more information on the BEACH Program or BEACH Geospatial data set contact: 

• BEACH Program IT Lead: William Kramer (kramer.bill@epa.gov), US EPA Office of Water. Phone: (202) 566-0385.
• PRAWN Database Support: Chris Stevenson (christopher.stevenson@cgifederal.com), CGI Federal. Phone: (337) 344-5429.
• RAD and Geospatial Datasets: Brad Cooper (Brad.Cooper@erg.com), Eastern Research Group, Inc. Phone: (703) 633-1685.