Beach Management Resources

Information Sharing and Education:

• BEACHNET - An E-mail discussion list that seeks to facilitate communication among people interested in the improvement of recreational beach water quality in the Great Lakes basin.
• Beach Network - The Beach Network is a group of individuals and institutions working together to provide healthy, safe beaches for people to enjoy while preserving its delicate ecology.
• Great Lakes Beach Association - The mission of the GLBA is the pursuit of healthy beach water conditions in the Great Lakes area. To meet its mission, information is shared in four major categories: Investigative, Modeling, Methodology, and Information Systems. BEACHNET is the host communication network/listserv.
• Great Lakes Information Network - A partnership that provides one place online for people to find information relating to the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of North America.

Predictive Modeling Resources:

• Ohio NowCast
• USGS Project S.A.F.E.(Swimming Advisory Forecast Estimate)
• Lake County, IL Health Department SwimCast Real Time Data Link
• Poster: Development of the Virtual Beach Model (PDF, 1 page, 508Kb)
• NOAA Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System Grand Haven Nowcast

EPA Beach Resources:

• Assessing and Monitoring Floatable Debris
• BEACON (Beach Advisory and Closing On-line Notification)
• EMPACT Beaches Project
• EMPACT Beaches Project: Results from a Study on Microbiological Monitoring in Recreational Waters (PDF, 85 pages, 1.94MB)
• National Epidemiological and Environmental Assessment of Recreational (NEEAR) Water Study
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Beach Monitoring & Notification - contains grants announcements, technical and reference documents, and legislation and policy.

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Resources:

NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Resources:

• U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center
• Access to Weather Data
• U.S. Geological Survey Ohio Water Science Center - Beach Monitoring Research

Great Lakes Organizations:

• Alliance for the Great Lakes
• Clean Beaches Council - Innovative approaches to coastal management and protection of human health and the environment.
• Great Lakes Commission - A binational public agency dedicated to the use, management and protection of the water, land, and other natural resources of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system.
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative

Additional Resources:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "Healthy Swimming" brochures and posters
• Cuyahoga County Health Department
• Racine Health Department

State Health Department and Beach Monitoring Resources:

• Illinois Department of Public Health
• Indiana Department of Environmental Management
• Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
• Michigan BeachGuard System
• Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
• Minnesota Lake Superior Beach Monitoring Program
• New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
• Ohio Department of Health
• Pennsylvania Erie County Department of Health
• Great Lakes BeachCast - Pennsylvania Beach Resources
• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
• Wisconsin Beach Health Site

For further information about the Clean Beaches Initiative, please contact Melissa Soline, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, at (312) 201 - 4517, melissa.soline@glslcities.org.