The EPA works in partnership with states, Tribes, territories, local governments, and the public to protect beaches.
The EPA protects beaches in the following areas:Across the country, these agencies are responsible for monitoring the quality of water at coastal and Great Lakes beaches and posting advisories or closing beaches when fecal indicator bacteria in the water are too high. However, some of these agencies do not have enough resources to monitor all of their beach waters. Contact your agency for more information.
BEACON is a source of longer-term data about beach water quality. The EPA created BEACON to meet the Agency's obligation to provide to the public a database of pollution occurrences for coastal recreation waters. BEACON contains annual state-reported beach monitoring and notification data and is available online.
The EPA implements several laws that regulate sources of water pollution to our coastal beaches and ocean water.
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. It was signed into law in 1948 as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act but was renamed the Clean Water Act in 1977. Under the CWA, the EPA has set wastewater standards for industry and water quality standards for contaminants in surface waters.
Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act (PDF)
The Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act established programs within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Coast Guard to identify, determine sources of, assess, reduce, and prevent marine debris. This law also reactivates the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee, chaired by NOAA.
Coastal Zone Management Act
The Coastal Zone Management Act was designed to help protect valuable natural coastal resources such as wetlands, floodplains, estuaries, beaches, dunes, barrier islands, and coral reefs, as well as the fish and wildlife using those habitats. It includes areas bordering the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, and Great Lakes. The Coastal Zone Management Act is administered by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.
The Coastal Zone Management Act encourages states and tribes to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, restore or enhance these resources. A unique feature of this law is that participation by states and tribes is voluntary. To encourage states and tribes to participate, the act makes federal financial assistance available.
The Shore Protection Act is applicable to transportation of municipal and commercial wastes in coastal waters. The goals of the regulations are to minimize deposit of waste into coastal waters during vessel loading, transport, and unloading, and to ensure that any deposited waste is reported and cleaned up. The EPA, in consultation with the Coast Guard, is responsible for developing regulations under this law
Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act (PDF)
The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships implements provisions of some international protocols from the 1970s and was amended by the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act (MPPRCA) in 1987. The MPPRCA requires the EPA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study the effects of improper disposal of plastics on the environment and methods to reduce or eliminate such adverse effects. MPPRCA also requires the EPA, NOAA, and the U.S. Coast Guard to evaluate the use of volunteer groups in monitoring floatable debris.
Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (PDF)
The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, also called the Ocean Dumping Act, generally prohibits:
The EPA has several programs that regulate sources of water pollution to our coastal beaches. To learn more about these programs, use the links.
After the BEACH Act was signed into law, the EPA expanded the focus of its efforts to improve the quality of coastal recreation waters and protect the health of beachgoers. To meet these goals, the EPA is addressing the objectives:
The NPDES program is authorized by the Clean Water Act and controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States.
The TMDL program, under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, requires states, territories, and authorized tribes to develop lists of impaired waters, establish priority rankings for waters, and develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). TMDLs related to beaches include pathogens, nutrients, and trash.
This program aims to reduce marine debris resulting from land-based and ocean-based sources.
The EPA plays an important role in enforcing our nation's environmental laws to protect our nation's recreational beaches and the health of those who use them.
Clean Water Act compliance monitoring
This program works to protect human health and the environment by ensuring that the regulated community obeys environmental laws and regulations.
Clean Water Act compliance assistance
This program provides businesses, colleges and universities, federal facilities, local governments, and tribes with tools to help meet environmental regulatory requirements.
Water Enforcement
This program provides additional information on EPA’s role in cleaning up water pollution.
The EPA is developing tools to better measure, identify, and address microbes in recreational waters and to better understand how these pollutants affect people’s health. The EPA also creates national criteria for indicators of fecal bacteria and toxins produced by harmful algal blooms and works with states, territories, and tribes on adopting protections for their waterbodies.
Several the EPA programs provide grant funding to address clean water at the nation's recreational beaches.
BEACH Act grants
This program provides grants to states, territories, Tribes, and local governments to protect beachgoers from contaminated water at coastal beaches including the Great Lakes. Grant funds are used to develop and implement beach monitoring and notification programs.
Clean Water Act Section 319 grants
This program provides states, territories, and Tribes with funding for a wide variety of activities including technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects, and monitoring to assess the success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects.
Clean Water Act Section 106 grants
This program provides federal assistance to states (including territories, the District of Columbia, and Indian Tribes) and interstate agencies to establish and implement ongoing water pollution control programs.
In addition to helping measure pollution in water near beaches, the EPA helps states, Tribes, territories, and local governments inform people on the threats to beaches and opportunities to protect them.
The EPA is improving public access to information about the quality of the water at beaches and health risks associated with swimming in polluted water.