Regional BEACH Program Conferences - 1999: Proceedings

Date

2000-02

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

United States Environmental Protection Agency

Abstract

The goal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Beaches Environmental Assessment, Closure and Health (BEACH) Program is to significantly reduce the risk of disease to users of the nation's recreational waters through improvements in recreational water programs, communication, and scientific advances. The BEACH Program applies to freshwater recreational areas such as lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as marine waters like oceans and bays, as does the Beach Action Plan. The Beach Action Plan is a dynamic, multiyear strategy governing all EPA activities protecting the public's health from pathogens in recreational waters. One of the objectives listed in the Beach Action Plan is for EPA to arrange a series of technical conferences intended for state and local recreational water quality managers. EPA hosted two regional beach conferences, one in San Diego, California, August 31-September 1, 1999, and the second in Tampa, Florida, October 18-19, 1999, to emphasize regional issues and implementation of national guidance. The conferences provided a forum for learning about beach health initiatives across the country, identified unaddressed beach health needs, assigned priorities to short-term and long-term actions, and recommended protocols and procedures to encourage greater consistency among jurisdictions. The conference was organized into the following sessions: Session One: Water Quality Standards, Indicators, and Implementation; Session Two: Risk Assessment, Exposure, and Health Effects; Session Three: Monitoring and Modeling; Session Four: Beach Advisories, Closures, and Risk Communication. Each session consisted of individual presentations and a discussion period with questions and comments from the audience and responses by the speakers. This proceedings document contains a summary of each speaker's presentation, a selection of key graphics, summaries of audience questions and responses, and summaries of the breakout group discussions from each conference.

Description

274 pages; available for download at the link below.

Keywords

contact recreation, public health, environmental protection, conference proceedings

Citation