EPA's BEACH Report: Michigan 2008 Swimming Season May 2009 Introduction The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal and Great Lakes states and territories report to EPA on beach monitoring and notification data for their coastal recreation waters. The BEACH Act defines coastal recreation waters as the Great Lakes and coastal waters (including coastal estuaries) that states, territories, and authorized tribes officially recognize or designate for swimming, bathing, surfing, or similar activities in the water. This fact sheet summarizes beach monitoring and notification data submitted to EPA by the State of Michigan for the 2008 swimming season. Figure 1. Michigan coastal counties. Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2008. EM Charlevoi Leelanau X" j» Antrim Benziei ', Grand Manis Mason Ocea Muskegon Ottawa Allegan Van Bure Berrien Traverse Arenac L Bay County ALCONA ALGER ALLEGAN ALPENA ANTRIM ARENAC BARAGA BAY BENZIE BERRIEN CHARLEVOIX CHEBOYGAN CHIPPEWA DELTA EMMET GOGEBIC GRAND TRAVERSE HOUGHTON HURON IOSCO KEWEENAW LEELANAU LUCE MACKINAC MACOMB MANISTEE MARQUETTE MASON MENOMINEE MONROE MUSKEGON OCEANA ONTONAGON OTTAWA PRESQUE ISLE SAN 1 LAC SCHOOLCRAFT ST. CLAIR VAN BUREN WAYNE TOTALS Total Beaches 15 19 11 21 28 28 24 10 10 33 20 23 27 55 35 10 47 24 41 24 27 54 17 56 14 18 9 16 11 12 19 16 18 15 37 23 15 24 8 7 921 Monitored 1 0 4 5 5 8 2 5 1 13 14 4 6 0 11 0 5 7 12 8 1 4 0 2 4 9 5 7 2 5 12 6 2 9 5 4 2 15 4 3 212 Not Monitored 14 19 7 16 23 20 22 5 9 20 6 19 21 55 24 10 42 17 29 16 26 50 17 54 10 9 4 9 9 7 7 10 16 6 32 19 13 9 4 4 709 ------- 2008 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? When water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach, Michigan's approach is to issue a beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the water. A total of 27 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2008 swimming season. About 40 percent of Michigan's 53 notification actions lasted two days or less. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification action durations. What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action? For Michigan's 2008 swimming season, actions were reported about 2 percent of the time (Figure 3). How do 2008 results compare to previous years? Table 2 compares 2008 notification action data with monitored beach data from previous years. What pollution sources possibly affect investigated monitored beaches? Figure 4 displays Michigan's investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by various pollution sources. In 2008, all investigated beaches indicated they had unidentified sources of pollution. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in Michigan: www.deq.state.mi.us/beach/public/ default.aspx Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 25 n 20 2 3-7 8-30 Duration of Actions (days) >30 Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 387 (2%) Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2006-2008. Beach days with no action 21,310 (98%) Number of monitored beaches Number of beaches affected by notification actions Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 2006 211 42 20% 2% 2007 208 32 15% 3% 2008 212 27 13% 2% Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by possible pollution sources (212 beaches). 0 10 20 30 Percent of beaches 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Investigated / no sources found Non-storm related runoff Storm-related runoff Agricultural runoff Boat discharge Cone, animal feeding operation Combined sewer overflow Sanitary sewer overflow Publicly-owned treatment works Sewer line leak or break Septic system leakage o Wildlife 1 Other (identified) source(s) Unidentified source(s) 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 )1 0 Note: A single beach may have multiple sources. 100 ------- |