EPA's BEACH Report:
New Hampshire 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 New
Hampshire for the 2008 swimming season.
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental
Services (DES) began monitoring coastal beaches in
1989 and the program continues to provide weekly
summer monitoring. From May 28th through Labor Day
of 2008, 413 beach inspections were conducted and 1664
samples were collected and analyzed for Enterococci.
Six beach advisories were posted in 2008, an increase
from one in 2007. New Castle Town Beach, New Castle,
was the location with the multiple postings, three
advisories in total.
In addition to the standard sampling, DES began a
stormwater modeling project to both determined bacteria
sources affecting beaches and to develop a predictive
model for issuing bacteria advisories. A final report
for this project is due in mid-summer 2009 and will be
available on the DES website.
The local chapter of Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit
ocean environmental organization, continues to work
with the DES Beach Program by volunteering to monitor
coastal beaches in the off-season. From March to May and
September to November, Surfrider volunteers conducted
38 inspections at North Beach and Jenness Beach,
collecting 170 samples to be analyzed for enterococci. The
program is continuing in 2009.
The DES Beach Program continued the cooperative effort
with the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation (Blue
Ocean), begun in April 2005, to clean-up coastal beaches.
Blue Ocean organizes volunteer groups to conduct monthly
beach clean-ups. The DES Beach Program provides each
group of volunteers with garbage bags, gloves, scales, and
other necessary supplies at 12 of the 16 coastal beaches. In
addition to collecting the trash, volunteers tally the weight
and number of trash items collected. In 2008, 7,468 pounds
of trash were collected. Cigarette butts were the most
numerous item with 18,332 collected. Volunteers spent a
total of 2,221 hours participating in these clean-up efforts.
The DES Beach Program hopes this program will continue
for many years to come.
Figure 1. New Hampshire coastal county.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2008.
Total Not
County Beaches Monitored Monitored
ROCKINGHAM 16
TOTALS 16
16
16
-------
2008 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, New Hampshire's approach is to
issue a beach advisory that warns people to avoid
contact with the water. Four monitored beaches had
advisories issued during the 2008 swimming season.
Figure 2 presents a breakdown of notification action
durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For New Hampshire's 2008 swimming season,
actions were reported less than one 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 the percentage of New
Hampshire's investigated monitored beaches
possibly affected by various pollution sources. In
2008, 50 percent of the beaches had no sources of
pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in New Hampshire:
www.des.state.nh.us/Beaches/index.asp
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
4
2 3-7 8-30
Duration of Actions (days)
>30
Beach days
with an action:
13
(1%)
Beach days
with no action
1,520
(99%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2006-2008.
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
16
5
31%
2%
2007
16
1
6%
<1%
2008
16
4
25%
<1%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected
by possible pollution sources (16 beaches).
0 10 20
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
Wildlife
Other (identified) source(s)
Unidentified source(s)
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
0
0
0
0
0
-•
0
0
0
-
^m
9
31
50
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
------- |