Warning sign on a Southern California beach after a rainstorm notifies the public that ocean water has exceeded state standards. Photo: Heal the Bay

Heal the Bay recently released its new report "A Model Program for Marine Beach Monitoring and Public Notification" which provides comprehensive guidance for designing a standardized beach water quality program that effectively protects public health.

The Model Program was developed over a 5-year period, and is based on the culmination of Heal the Bay's decades-long experience with beach water quality issues and the latest research and developments on fecal bacteria pollution.

Funded by Region IX of the U.S. EPA, Heal the Bay created and authored the Model Program report in response to the inconsistent and often inadequate protection of public health at beaches across the country.

Background
Currently, there are no standardized monitoring and public notification requirements for United States beaches. This results in inconsistent public health protection at beaches from state to state with many popular ocean beaches monitored too infrequently or tested in ways that don't adequately protect swimmers.

But consistent monitoring alone does not protect swimmers-the data must be analyzed and the appropriate risks (and what to do about them) need to be communicated to the public. Unfortunately, in many places, the results of water quality monitoring often are not available to the public. (Note: Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card has made California water quality data available to the public in a meaningful and understandable format for over 12 years).

Another result of a lack of standardized monitoring and public notification is that states like California build reputations for having polluted beaches based on the number of times beaches are posted with warning signs each year. In actuality, California beaches might just appear polluted-simply because water quality is monitored better than other states. For example, California health officials routinely take beach water quality samples (daily in some areas) and are required by AB 411 (a California state law that Heal the Bay co-authored in 1998) to notify the public when the samples show water may be unsafe for swimming (see sidebar at right for more information). Thus, California has more warning sign postings on its beaches than other states but not necessarily more pollution.

What does all this inconsistency mean to the beach-goer? It means misleading information where people in one state might think the water at their beach is perfectly clean, while people swimming in another state, at a beach with very similar water quality, could see warning signs indicating water that is deemed unsafe for swimming. The end result is confusion and higher risks of swimming-related illnesses.

Future of the Model Program
Heal the Bay hopes the Model Program outlined in the new report will be used by local health agencies around the country to standardize their water quality monitoring programs-and, if adopted on a national basis, would create a national standardized water quality monitoring program that will consistently protect public health at all of our beaches.

Heal the Bay also plans to use the Model Program in our continuing advocacy efforts to further improve beach public health protection programs in California.