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EPA's BEACH Report:
Alaska 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 Alaska for the 2008 swimming season.
Figure 1. Alaska coastal communities.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
community for 2008.
Community
NAKNEK
DILLINGHAM
JUNEAU
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
1
1
1
3
Monitored
1
1
1
3
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
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2008 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Alaska's approach is to issue a
beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact
with the water. None of the 3 monitored beaches
had an advisory issued during the 2008 swimming
season.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
No actions were reported during Alaska's 2008
swimming season (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 Alaska's
investigated monitored beaches possibly affected
by various pollution sources. In 2008, 2 out of 3 of
their beaches reported that sources of pollution were
unknown.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Alaska:
www.dec.state.ak.us/water/wqsar/wqs/
beachprogram.htm
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
CO
c
o
ts
'o
0
2
10 -
9 -
8-
7 -
6 -
5 -
4 -
3 -
2 -
1 -
0000
1 - 2 Days 3 - 7 Days 8 - 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3: Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
> 30 Days
Beach days
with an action
0
(0%)
Beach days
with no action
270
(100%)
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
3
0
0%
0%
2007
3
0
0%
0%
2008
3
0
0%
0%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (3 beaches).
o
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)
10 20
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
33
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
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