Texas Beach Watch Program Water Quality Data Summary Report

Abstract

<p>The Texas Beach Watch (TBW) Program monitors enterococci bacteria at 169 bay and gulf recreational beaches in ten counties along the Texas Gulf coast. This project analyzed TBW data temporally and spatially to identify problematic areas, conducted trend analysis and identified environmental factors that may be affecting water quality. This investigation included:</p> <ul> <li>site-specific analyses to determine fecal indicator bacteria suitability by comparing enterococci data with recreational beach criteria using the USEPA single sample beach action value (104 cfu/100 ml), TCEQ geometric mean (35 cfu/100ml), and TCEQ percent exceedance of BAV assessment criteria (<25% = fully supporting, 20-25% = concern and fully supporting, > 25% = not supporting);</li> <li>spatial and temporal analyses by geographic group (upper, middle, lower Texas coast), beach type (bay or gulf), season (peak or non-peak), station (169 stations) and county (10 Texas counties);</li> <li>temporal trend analysis of percent BAV exceedances by beach type (bay or gulf), collectively for all counties, and at the upper detection limit of the laboratory analytical enumeration method used for analysis of water samples for enterococci bacteria over time;</li> <li>correlation analyses with available environmental data sources at selected sites within counties with the highest percent exceedances of the recreational beach criteria;</li> </ul>