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EPA's BEACH Report:
Alabama 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 Alabama for the 2008 swimming
season.
Figure 1. Alabama coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2008.
County
BALDWIN
MOBILE
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
21
4
25
Monitored
21
4
25
Not
Monitored
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, Alabama's approach is to issue a
beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact
with the ocean water. A total of 4 monitored beaches
had 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 Alabama's 2008 swimming season, actions were
reported about 0.2 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?
There were no known sources of pollution affecting
Alabama's investigated monitored beaches in 2008
(Figure 4).
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Alabama:
www.adem.state.al.us/FieldOps/Monitoring/
BeachMonitoring.htm
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
1 2 3-7 8-30
Duration of Actions (days)
>30
Figure 3: Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days with
an action:
7
(0.2%)
Beach days
with no action
3,818
(99.8%)
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
27
5
19%
1%
2007
25
16%
0.3%
2008
25
4
16%
0.2%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (25 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Investigated/nosources 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)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Wofe: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
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