BEACH Act
What is the BEACH Act?
The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) was passed by Congress in October 2000 to "reduce the risk of disease to users of the nation's recreational waters." The Act addresses pathogens and pathogen indicators, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), in coastal recreation waters and contains three distinct provisions, summarized as follows:
- States and tribes that have coastal recreation waters must adopt new or revised water quality standards by April 10, 2004 .
- The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) must study issues associated with pathogens and human health and publish new or revised criteria for pathogens and pathogen indicators by 2005 and 2008 respectively.
- This project will be implemented through a grant from U.S. EPA to coastal states for the development and implementation of plans to monitor and assess recreation waters adjacent to beaches that are used by the public.
The BEACH Act in Indiana
Under the BEACH Act, Indiana has used grant dollars to develop the Lake Michigan Beaches Program. Indiana 's 45 miles of Lake Michigan Shoreline is located on the northern edge of Lake , Porter and La Porte Counties . The funding, among other positive impacts, has helped increase the frequency of E. coli monitoring at Indiana's Lake Michigan Beaches. E. coli is a type of fecal coliform bacteria commonly found in the intestines of animals and humans. The presence of E. coli in water is a strong indicator of recent sewage or biological waste contamination. Sewage may contain many types of disease-causing organisms.
Before the development of Indiana's Beaches Monitoring and Notification Program, Indiana's 22 coastal beaches were monitored 1-2 times per week. The funding has allowed partner communities, including Hammond, East Chicago, Lake County Parks, Gary, Ogden Dunes, Indiana Dunes State Park, Dunes Acres, and LaPorte County, to increase the frequency of sampling and analysis of water samples for E. coli at their beaches to 5 - 7 days per week.
IDEM is also using the grant resources to keep the public informed. Beach managers and/or park departments notify the public by posting beach advisories or beach water closure signs. At minimum, they post beach water advisory signs to warn of E. coli contamination. During beach season 2005, IDEM will have fixed signage or kiosks installed at several coastal beaches that display beach advisory information. The kiosks will provide beachgoers with up-to-date information regarding the status of beach water as well as additional information about the possible sources and causes of E. coli contamination. Recommendations will also be provided to beachgoers and watercraft operators to help them reduce the likelihood of causing an E. coli release.
What is Indiana Doing to Comply with the BEACH Act?
BEACH Monitoring and Notification Plan
In 2002, The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) began the development of a Beach Monitoring and Notification Plan (BMNP) as required by U.S. EPA for Indiana 's portion of the Lake Michigan shoreline. This work was completed in 2003, with the assistance of project partners, including Save the Dunes Conservation Fund, Indiana University Northwest and the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program.
The project partners worked with beach stakeholders along Indiana 's 45 miles of Lake Michigan Shoreline located on the northern edge of Lake, Porter and LaPorte Counties. The stakeholder group consisted of beach owners (coastal cities and towns, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Indiana Dunes State Park and beachgoers.
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