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About EPA Beach Report

The Beach Report program provides information on water quality at 36 beaches in Port Phillip Bay in summer. It uses a four-level rating system to forecast beach water quality each day, based on weekly monitoring.

What does Beach Report do?

Forecasting

Every day during summer, EPA issues water quality forecasts for local beaches. The forecasts cover 36 beaches around the bay and are reported here on the Beach Report website. You can also access the Beach Report forecasts via Twitter (@EPABeachReport) while many media outlets also carry the forecast.

On weekdays, the forecast is updated in the morning and afternoon. The afternoon update also provides an advance forecast for the next day.

The forecasts predict levels of bacteria in the water, to allow beachgoers to make informed choices about visiting the beach.

They are based on weather forecasts and warnings, bacterial water quality history and recent sample results. If there are a lot of poor bacterial water quality forecasts for the next day, EPA will issue a stormwater alert. If we detect high bacterial levels from weekly water quality monitoring we assign an ‘Unacceptable’ rating for the beach and issue a swim advisory.

The water quality forecasts are only predictive. We recommend you use your judgement and local knowledge when visiting the beach. As a general precaution, we advise people not to swim near stormwater drains, rivers, streams and other outlets into the bay during rain and for at least 24-48 hours afterwards.

Monitoring

Beach Report forecasts are partly based on our monitoring of water in Port Phillip Bay.

Bacterial water quality at 36 beaches is monitored weekly (generally every Monday), with results from sampling available the next day on the Beach Report website. Bacterial water quality sampling supports daily water quality forecasting and is used to assess short-term water quality, and provide information on seasonal and long-term water quality at beaches.

For more information on how we monitor water quality, see How we monitor below or any of our Beach Report summary reports on our Reports & Publications page.

What else do we do with Beach Report results?

• Work with local councils to identify areas prone to poor bacterial water quality and work towards reducing pollution sources.
• Raises awareness to the wider community about how they can help to reduce their impact on water quality at bay beaches.
• Assess water quality against Victorian objectives for recreational water quality and assess long-term water quality trends.

How we monitor

EPA monitors levels of enterococci (measured in organisms/100 mL) at bay beaches. Enterococci are a group of bacteria found in the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals. Elevated levels of Enterococci are a sign of possible faecal contamination. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recognise these bacteria as the best indicator for primary recreational water quality contact (swimming, diving or surfing) in marine environments.

EPA assesses short-term water quality by comparing results against two trigger levels: a two-consecutive-sample trigger and a dry-weather-impact indicator.

• The two-consecutive-sample trigger (>400 org/100 mL) is based on Microbial Quality of Recreational Water Guidance Notes to the NHMRC 2008 guidelines. If it is triggered once, a resample will be collected. If it is triggered twice in a 24-hour period, a swim advisory will be issued.
• The dry-weather-impact indicator trigger (>1000 org/100 mL) is based on historical monitoring of beaches in Port Philip Bay and only needs to be triggered once during dry weather for a swim advisory to be issued.

For both triggers, if a trigger has been exceeded during dry weather, a site investigation will also be conducted with the local council.

A swim advisory means water quality is not suitable for primary contact (i.e. swimming). Signage at the affected beach will tell you a swim advisory has been issued, as will the Beach Report website and media.

Summer season bacterial water quality is also assessed against the 75th percentile objective (150 org/100 mL) for primary contact recreation in the State Environment Protection Policy (Waters of Victoria) 2003 (SEPP (WoV)). The 75th percentile is used to assess long-term water quality trends.