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Texas Beach Watch Program

http://www.texasbeachwatch.com/
Texas Beach Watch is a program funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas General Land Office (GLO), which administers the program to monitor water quality at Texas' recreational beaches. The program monitors Texas’ recreational beaches and when bacteria levels in the water exceed the acceptable standards established by the EPA, the GLO works with local governments to issue advisories warning the public not to swim in affected waters.

Currently, water samples are collected from 167 stations at 65 recreational beaches along the Texas coast in Aransas, Brazoria, Cameron, Galveston, Jefferson, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces and San Patricio counties. Water samples are collected weekly during the peak beach season, which runs from May through September, and every two weeks during the rest of the year. The one exception occurs in March when weekly sampling is conducted at Gulf of Mexico beaches to coincide with spring break.

The water quality conditions at beaches being sampled under the Texas Beach Watch Program can be obtained through the interactive map found at www.TexasBeachWatch.com. The water quality information on the Texas Beach Watch site is updated each time sample results are entered into the database. Units of local government post advisory signs provided by the GLO at beach access points where the water quality exceeds acceptable bacterial levels.


Principal Investigator(s) or Program Chair:
Davis, Craig
Tischler, Keith
Land, Sheri

Sponsor(s):
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Texas General Land Office, Austin, Texas

Institution(s):
Texas General Land Office (TGLO)
Lamar University
Galveston County Health District
Hygeia Laboratories
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
University of Texas-Pan American
United States Environmental Protection Agency

Field of Focus:
Monitoring of Coastal Recreational Waters for Bacteria; Public Notification of Poor Water Quality Standards; Ecological Indicators; Ecotourism; Pollution; Public Health; Microbiology

Study Site:   Coastwide, Texas

Award Amount:   By Federal Fiscal Year

Award Period:   Ongoing

Publications and Related Information:
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/
http://www.texasbeachwatch.com/


Home Page:   http://www.texasbeachwatch.com/

E-mail:   craig.davis@glo.state.tx.us

Keywords:   Beach Watch, Water quality, Texas beaches, Bacteria, Texas General Land Office


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