Beach Monitoring | South Carolina Department of Environmental Services

Visit the S.C. Beach Access Guide and zoom in or select a beach to look for swim advisory spots in that area.

We routinely collect water samples at more than 120 locations along South Carolina's beaches. If high numbers of bacteria are found, we issue an advisory for that portion of the beach. An advisory means that SCDES advises you NOT to swim in those areas. This is especially true for young children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.

Advisories do not mean that the beach is closed. Wading, fishing, and shell collecting do not pose a risk. Advisories may be issued due to high bacteria counts or rainfall. Advisories are lifted when sample results fall below the limit of 104CFU/100mL. Check the local newspaper and television news stations. Look for advisory signs when you go to the beach.

Please visit CDC's guidelines on beach safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frequently Asked Questions about Beach Water Monitoring and Swimming Advisories

Enterococcus bacteria are tested in the samples to indicate presence of bacteria in the water. Elevated levels of these bacteria in the water can indicate possible contamination by fecal waste. Enterococcus is a type of bacteria that lives in the intestinal tracts of warm-blooded animals, including humans, pets and wildlife. Enterococci are typically not considered harmful to humans, but their presence in the environment may indicate that other disease-causing organisms may be present.

SCDES issues short-term or temporary swimming advisories during the swimming season from May 1 to October 1. Temporary advisories typically last one to two days. Long-term swimming advisories (see description below) are issued for beach water monitoring locations that have an increased possibility of high bacteria levels -- especially following rain events -- due to stormwater runoff.

No. Beach swim advisories are for isolated spots at monitoring locations where swimming is not advised. Most advisories are temporary - lasting only a day or two.

SCDES has partnered with several municipalities, counties, and other stakeholders in S.C.'s beaches to develop Check My Beach, a website that provides education about beach safety. This includes information on rip currents, flag safety, and water quality. It also links to local area beaches for more specific beach information. Newly this collective effort is in the Grand Strand area, but SCDES plans to expand this partnership to make Check My Beach a statewide program and add more partners along the coast. For further information, please see our Road Show video.

If two consecutive samples from a monitoring station come back as greater than the accepted standard, a temporary advisory is issued (see footnote below for more detail*).

Follow-up sampling is performed daily, and the temporary advisory is removed when the enterococcus bacteria levels drop below the standard.

SCDES places temporary signs at sampling points on the beach and the beach access guide found at http://gis.dhec.sc.gov/beachaccess is updated to show the temporary advisory. There is also a beach advisory table at the bottom of these FAQs that updates with temporary advisories. For beaches not yet taking part in the Check My Beach program a press release will be issued.

Long-term swimming advisories are put in place for monitoring stations with an increased possibility of high bacteria levels -- especially following rain events -- due to stormwater runoff.

Signs posted at these locations provide advice about swimming in the immediate area due to the potential of high bacteria levels, usually associated with rainfall events. The long-term advisories and signs typically are located where stormwater from pipes or swashes (small creeks) flows across the beach to the ocean.

A long-term advisory is issued for monitoring locations where more than 10 percent of the enterococcus data collected over the past five years exceeds the recreational use standard for enterococcus. The need for a long-term advisory at a monitoring location is reassessed each year. Temporary advisories are not posted where long-term advisories already exist.

Long-term advisories began in Myrtle Beach in 2007 and in Surfside Beach and Horry County in 2008.

Coastal Carolina University collects data at several stations in the Grand Strand area and reports the results to SCDES year-round for informational purposes.

Temporary swimming advisories are not issued outside of the May 1 to October 1 season.

Yes. Stormwater solutions/improvements being implemented by local governments are working, resulting in a downward trend in the number of long-term advisory signs. Signs for a long-term advisory are removed when water quality data shows improvement (less than 10 percent of the samples exceed the standard).

Newly, there are 122 beach water monitoring stations in the state. These stations are located from Cherry Grove Beach near the South Carolina-North Carolina border to the southern end of Hilton Head Island.

SCDES samples water at the state's beaches twice a month starting May 1 to October 1. Beaches in the Myrtle Beach area are sampled weekly.

*A short-term advisory is issued at sites that do not already have a long-term advisory in place when a sample exceeds 104 MPN/100mL over two consecutive days or issued with the first sample when a potential source of bacteria is nearby, such as a stormwater drain. Also, if any single routine sample exceeds 500 MPN/100mL, a temporary advisory is immediately issued.