Texas Beach Watch The Texas General Land Office George P. Bush, Commissioner

In the Beginning... A water quality monitoring program designed to protect the health of swimmers at Texas’ recreational beaches. Collect and test beach water for Enterococcus bacteria. Initially funded by the Coastal Management Program. In July 2001, Governor Perry designated the General Land Office as the lead State agency for beach water quality monitoring program.

BEACH Act of 2000 ▪ Nationally Consistent Standards for Coastal Recreation Waters ▪ Beach Monitoring and Notification Guidance ▪ Beach Program Development and Implementation Grants to State and Local Governments

Nationally Consistent Standards for Coastal Recreation Waters

Revision to Section 303 of the Clean Water Act ▪ States must adopt current EPA bacterial indicators/criteria within 42 months of enactment (April 2004). ▪ E. coli – freshwaters (126 cfu/100ml). ▪ Enterococcus – A Geometric Mean in fresh water of 33 cfu/100ml and in marine water of (35 cfu/100ml) waters. ▪ EPA to promulgate if States do not do so.

Revision to Section 104 of the Clean Water Act ▪ EPA directed to develop new and improved indicators and methods for coastal waters. ▪ Assessment of risks of other non-GI effects ▪ “Appropriate and effective” indicators ▪ “Appropriate, accurate, expeditious, and cost-effective methods” for detecting pathogens in a timely manner ▪ Guidance for State application of criteria

Revision to Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act ▪ EPA to publish new criteria within 5 years of enactment based on studies under Section 104. ▪ EPA to review and revise, as necessary, criteria once every 5 years thereafter.

Beach Monitoring and Notification Guidance ▪ Section 406 added to Clean Water Act ▪ EPA to publish performance criteria within 18 months of enactment ▪ Criteria for monitoring and “prompt notification of the public” when water quality standard exceedances occur. ▪ Guidance document completed in June 2002.

Beach Program Development/Implementation Grants ▪ $2 million allocated to 35 coastal States, Tribes, and Territories in 2001 for program development. Texas received $58,560. ▪ $10 million appropriated annually by Congress. From FY 2003 through FY 2015, Texas has been awarded $6,085,099 for program development and implementation.

Specific Grant Requirements “Performance Criteria” ▪ Grant recipients must identify: ▪ List of coastal recreation waters used by public ▪ Process for delegation of program to local governments ▪ Frequency and location of monitoring ▪ Methods and assessment procedures ▪ Measures for prompt communication of WQS exceedances to EPA, local officials. ▪ Measures for posting of signs, other communication measures for notifying public of WQS exceedances. ▪ Measures for informing public of risks.

Grants to States, Local Governments, or Federal Agencies ▪ States may delegate responsibilities to local governments ▪ Local governments may receive grants directly from EPA only if State is not implementing a program ▪ Federal agencies with jurisdiction over coastal recreation waters must implement program within 3 years of passage of Act.

Data Reporting Requirements ▪ States required to report all data, public notification actions to EPA. ▪ EPA developed a national database where States’ have reported data, closure/advisory information. ▪

National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition ▪ Requires grant recipients to develop a schedule to adopt new or revised recreational water quality standards pursuant to Clean Water Act section 303(i)(1)(B). ▪ Requires grant recipients to develop a schedule for identifying and applying EPA's Beach Action Value, or justifying an alternative value, to trigger public notification of beach advisories or closures. ▪ Updates science on pathogens, health concerns, and fecal indicator bacteria.

National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition ▪ Makes sanitary surveys a central part of states' and tribes' risk-based evaluation and classification of their beaches. ▪ Provides detailed guidance on how states and tribes can develop their List of Beaches. ▪ Strengthens the link between prioritizing beaches and developing a tiered monitoring plan that reflects those priorities.

National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition ▪ Summarizes the major findings of EPA's 2010 review of scientific studies on beach monitoring. ▪ Updates monitoring procedures to include quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for same-day results. ▪ Expands discussion on integrating predictive models, which facilitate same-day notification, into a monitoring plan.

National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition ▪ Provides guidance on when to issue or remove a notification. ▪ Discusses new public notification and communication tools that support same-day notification, such as social media, , websites, and text messages. ▪ Adds specific requirements to the performance criteria, such as posting monitoring data on a website to ensure its wide public availability.

The Texas Beach Watch Program Texas Beach Watch monitors water quality at Texas recreational beaches. When bacteria levels in the water exceed acceptable standards, the Texas General Land Office works with local governments to issue advisories, warning the public not to swim in affected waters.

The Program collects and tests water samples from 164 sites at 61 beaches. ▪ Aransas ▪ Brazoria ▪ Cameron ▪ Galveston ▪ Harris ▪ Jefferson ▪ Matagorda ▪ Nueces ▪ San Patricio ▪ Samples are collected weekly during the peak beach season from May through September and every other week from October through April. ▪ In March, samples are collected on all gulf beaches to coincide with spring break.

In 2013, Texas led all states in the number of samples per beach.

The Program uses public and private entities & the Enterolert TM method to collect & test samples. 1. Galveston County Health District (City of Houston Lab) 2. Hygeia Laboratories, Inc. 3. Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District 4. Lamar University (Non NELAP) 5. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (Non NELAP)

The Program uses Enterococci as the Pathogen Indicator. Enterococci bacteria are measured to determine the relative risk of swimming in marine water. These bacteria originate from the wastes of warm-blooded animals. The presence of these bacteria indicates that associated pathogens from these wastes may be reaching a body of water. Sources may include inadequately treated sewage, pets in urban areas, aquatic birds and mammals, or failing septic systems.

Field Observation Form ▪ Weather Conditions ▪ Water Surface ▪ Wind Velocity/Direction ▪ Water Color ▪ Air/Water Temperature ▪ Smell ▪ Rainfall ▪ Beach Debris ▪ Tidal Stage ▪ Comments Records on site conditions at time of sampling.

Public Notification ▪ Sample results are entered into GLO Access database by local contractors. ▪ notifications sent to local entities and interested parties. ▪ Results are available online at time of entry at

If bacterial levels exceed the standard ▪ A water quality advisory is recommended. ▪ Local officials post advisory signs at the specific beach access area. ▪ Daily sampling conducted until bacteria levels fall below the standard.

Public Notification

Outreach

TexasBeachWatch.com

Texas Beach Watch in 2015 Samples Collected 7,398 Beaches with No Advisories 11 Beaches with Advisories 50 Total Number of Advisories 792 One Day Advisory 451 Two Day Advisory 229 Three to Seven Day Advisory 111 Eight to 30 Days Advisory 1

What’s Coming? ▪ Aim for same day notifications. ▪ Improve timeliness of notification decision-making. ▪ Improve timeliness of delivering notification information.

Improve Notification Effectiveness ▪ Is anyone paying attention? ▪ What are they paying attention to? ▪ Is behavior changing?

What Else is Swimming in Your Favorite Texas Swimming Hole? The exemplary Texas Beach Watch and Texas Stream Team programs should be used as a model for Texas' freshwater bacteria testing, since they provide consistent, regular sampling whose results are easily accessible to the public and are used to promote safe swimming through public warnings and closures. Environment Texas December 2011

Craig Davis Coastal Resources Division Texas General Land Office (512)