City leaders have reduced the price of using the Fairhope Municipal Beach. The idea behind slashing the fee per carload in half is to encourage more people to visit the beach while an environmental study is taking place, according to Mayor Tim Kant.

The Environmental Protection Agency began taking water samples and interviewing beachgoers last month as part of the National Beaches Survey.

Kant said EPA officials were dismayed that around 60 percent of the people who came to the gate left rather than pay the $8 per vehicle cost of taking advantage of the swimming and other recreational opportunities found there.

“They weren’t seeing enough people – only around 70 a day. They need at least 100 per day. They didn’t want to wake up and not have enough data for that experiment.”

Kant said the city charges a beach fee beginning Memorial Day weekend. The fee always ends after Labor Day, the traditional end of summer.

Beginning immediately, the drive-in fee will be only $4 on Saturdays and Sundays, the same days the EPA is conducting surveys. It will remain $8 the remainder of the week. The reduced price will end Aug. 1.

He pointed out the $3 per person walk-in fee has not changed and as always, Fairhope residents and utility customers are admitted free.

“The fee began in the early ‘70s with (then) Councilwoman Trisha Nelson (Lo Porto) and Mayor (James P.) Nix,” Kant said. “It came about because we were the only beach after Hurricane Camille. People found our little beach after that.”

An appeal at the time by Fairhope residents hoping to reduce the number of people from outside the area using the beach resulted in the city first applying the fee.

Kant said the city once charged $10 to use the beach park, but the price was lowered a few years ago. Because the fee is also a steady source of revenue, the EPA agreed to pay the city $1,000 each day the discount is in effect.

The EPA survey involves talking to swimmers and others using the beach, asking out how much time they spent in Mobile Bay or playing in the sand near the water. Around 10 days later, they receive a follow-up call asking if they became ill after their visit.

The data gathered in water tests made at three points along the beach will be compared to the interviews in order to determine if certain elements in the water are making people sick.

EPA officials say they hope the beach survey will result in a new generation of tests that offer a faster turnaround time.

Right now, it takes at least a day or two for beach warnings to be posted after a test, alerting swimmers to toxins in the water. Tests being developed by EPA researchers could mean results could be posted the very same day water samples are taken.

“As far as I know, they’re (EPA) very happy and things have been going well,” Kant said.