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EPA's BEACH Report:
Illinois 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 Illinois for the 2008 swimming season.
Figure 1. Illinois coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2008.
County
COOK
LAKE
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
49
19
68
Monitored
39
13
52
Not
Monitored
10
6
16
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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, Illinois' approach is to issue a
beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact
with the water. A total of 49 monitored beaches
had at least one advisory issued during the 2008
swimming season. About 93 percent of Illinois' 397
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 Illinois' 2008 swimming season, actions were
reported about 11 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 sources of pollution affecting Illinois'
investigated monitored beaches in 2008 are mostly
unidentified (Figure 4).
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Illinois:
www.earth911.org/waterquality/
default.asp?cluster=17
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
350 -i
300
2 3-7 8-30
Duration of Actions (days)
>30
Figure 3: Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
541
(11%)
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
67
54
81%
12%
2007
51
49
96%
17%
2008
52
49
94%
11%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by
possible pollution sources (51 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
Wildlife
Other (identified) source(s)
Unidentified source(s)
0
1 2
1 2
1 2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Wofe: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
100
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