Beach guides
What beach monitoring data means, and how to check advisories and closures for yourself.
What is a Beach Act beach?
How the federal BEACH Act works, what the Beach Act flag means in EPA data, and what it does not tell you.
EPA beach monitoring tiers
What the monitoring tier on a beach means, how tiers relate to sampling frequency, and why some tiers are blank.
How to read beach attributes
A field-by-field guide to the EPA BEACON beach attributes, and how they differ from beach water quality results and advisories.
Great Lakes vs ocean beaches
How freshwater Great Lakes beaches differ from saltwater ocean beaches in the BEACH Act program and in the data.
Finding public beaches
How to use Ocean98 to find beaches with public access, and where to check advisories, closures and whether it is safe to swim.