Green means the beach’s most recent test results met relevant water quality standards. | |
Red means the beach’s most recent test results failed to meet water quality standards. | |
Grey means water quality information for the beach is too old (more than 7 days old) to be considered current, or that info is unavailable, or unreliable. |
When swimming season is over or when a beach's water quality data has not been updated frequently enough (weekly) it goes into historical status. This means that rather than displaying current data it displays the beach's average water quality for that year.
Green means the beach passed water quality tests 95% of the time or more. | |
Yellow means the beach passed water quality tests 60-95% of the time. | |
Red means the beach failed water quality tests 40% of the time or more. |
We may manually set the status for a specific beach if we have concerns about the sampling protocol, if there is an emergency, if monitoring practices don't exist or have recently changed, or other reasons that render this site "special."
Green means the beach has historically excellent or pristine water quality, but there is no current data. | |
Red means the water at the site has water quality issues or there is an emergency. | |
Grey means there is no current water quality information, the beach is under construction, there has been an event that has rendered water quality information unreliable or unavailable. |
See the beach description for more information regarding their special status. |
Photo by Anthony
There are two types of coastal management techniques, hard engineering, and soft engineering. We explain the difference and highlight the main types below.
Hard engineering is a coastal management technique used to protect coasts,by absorbing the energy of waves, preventing erosion and flooding. They are highly visible man-made structures used to stop or disrupt natural processes. These structures are expensive,short-term solutions and often they can have a negative impact on the environment. Installing hard engineering structures in one coastal location can have detrimental effects further down the coast.
Soft engineering works with nature to protect the coast rather than trying to stop natural processes. It uses ecological principles and practises, therefore making less of a negative impact on the natural environment. Soft engineering is less expensive to implement and maintain, and creates more long-term, sustainable solutions than hard engineering projects.
Beach | Location | Water Quality | Water Quality | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hampton, Virginia
|
Hampton, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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King George, Virginia
|
King George, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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Chincoteague Island, Virginia
|
Chincoteague Island, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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Cape Charles, Virginia
|
Cape Charles, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
Beach | Location | Water Quality | Water Quality | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hampton, Virginia
|
Hampton, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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King George, Virginia
|
King George, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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Chincoteague Island, Virginia
|
Chincoteague Island, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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Cape Charles, Virginia
|
Cape Charles, Virginia |
Historical Status
|
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