EPA's BEACH  Report:
            Ohio 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 Ohio for the 2008 swimming season.
Figure 1. Ohio coastal counties.
                            Ashtabula
                                     Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
                                            unmonitored coastal beaches by
                                            county for 2008.
County
ASHTABULA
CUYAHOGA
ERIE
LAKE
LORAIN
LUCAS
OTTAWA
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
4
4
25
2
2
2
7
46
Monitored
4
4
25
2
2
2
7
46
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

-------
2008 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Ohio's approach is to issue a beach
advisory that warns people to avoid contact with
the water. A total of 41 monitored beaches had at
least one advisory issued during the 2008 swimming
season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of
notification action durations.

What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Ohio's 2008 swimming season, actions were
reported about 17 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?
Possible pollution sources were not investigated at
Ohio beaches.


For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Ohio:
www.odh.ohio.gov, (614) 466-1390, or
l-(866)  OHIO BCH
Figure 2:  Beach notification actions by duration.

   180^    161
                          98
                  2       3-7      8-30
                 Duration of Actions (days)
                                          >30
Figure 3:  Beach days with
          and without
          notification
          actions.
             Beach days
            with an action:
                801
               (17%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2006-2008.
 Beach days
with no action
   3,799
   (83%)

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
52
42
81%
12%
2007
55
37
67%
10%
2008
46
41
89%
17%

-------