How did the Beach Act affect Suffolk County?
To accomplish its goals, the BEACH Act authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award grants to states and localities to assist in the development of their beach monitoring programs. As required by the legislation, and to be eligible for funding, Suffolk County developed a Bathing Beach Monitoring and Notification Program Workplan that describes procedures used to collect and analyze beach samples, assess water quality in the context of acceptable criteria, and to inform the public when advisories or closures are issued and rescinded. As recommended by the Beach Act, and as adopted by the New York State Sanitary Code for beaches (Subpart 6-2) in June 2004, Suffolk County now uses Enterococci as a pathogen indicator for marine waters and Escherichia coli (E. coli) as an indicator for freshwaters.
