In April 2016, EPA’s Office of Science and Technology hosted a Recreational Waters Conference on:

• Beach monitoring,
• Beach notification, and
• Implementation tools for the 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria

EPA sponsored the national Recreational Waters Conference to bring together public health and environmental professionals from states, tribes, territories, the federal government, academic researchers, and other stakeholders to discuss the wide-ranging issues related to human health in waters used for recreation (e.g., swimming at beaches).

Approximately 250 federal, state, local government and other stakeholders attended the conference. The conference included a pre-conference session with presentations on sanitary surveys, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) laboratory techniques, and predictive modeling; 10 sessions covering a range of topics related to recreational waters; and a poster session. Conference materials are listed below for download, or view poster presentations.

• Agenda and Table of Contents (PDF)(8 pp, 1 MB)
• Session 1: Welcome Speakers (PDF)(6 pp, 219 K)
• Session 2: Trends in Beach Management (PDF)(20 pp, 6 MB)
• Session 3: Recreation Water Monitoring and Implementation Challenges/Successes (PDF)(29 pp, 9 MB)
• Session 4: Citizen Science (PDF)(29 pp, 10 MB)
• Session 5: Epidemiology and Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (PDF)(10 pp, 2 MB)
• Session 6: Advances in Alternative Indicators and Measurement (PDF)(19 pp, 6 MB)
• Session 7: Pollution Source Identification, Tracking, and Sanitary Surveys (PDF)(20 pp, 5 MB)
• Session 8: Harmful Algal Blooms Impact (PDF)(23 pp, 7 MB)
• Session 9: Restoration and Remediation of Beaches (PDF)(19 pp, 7 MB)
• Session 10: Predictive Modeling and Forecasting (PDF)(20 pp, 6 MB)
• Poster Presenters Abstracts and Bios (PDF)(55 pp, 574 K)
• Attendee List (PDF)(9 pp, 232 K)