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           EPA's  BEACH  Report:
           Virginia  2009  Swimming Season
           May 2010
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 Commonwealth of Virginia for the 2009
swimming season.
                                      Figure 1. Virginia coastal counties.
                                                                     Accomack
                                                                     Northampton
                                                                     Virginia
                                                                     Beach
                                    Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
                                           unmonitored coastal beaches by
                                           county for 2009.
^^H County
ACCOMACK










GLOUCESTER
HAMPTON
KING GEORGE
MATHEWS
NEWPORT NEWS
NORFOLK
NORTHAMPTON
VIRGINIA BEACH
YORK
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
1
1
2
1
1
4
9
2
22
1
44
Monitored
1
1
2
1
1
4
9
2
22
1
44
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

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2009 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Virginia's approach is to issue a
beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact
with the ocean water. A total of 9 monitored beaches
had at least one advisory issued during the 2009
swimming season. Forty-three percent of Virginia's
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 Virginia's 2009 swimming season, actions were
reported less than 1 percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2009 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2009 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
What pollution sources possibly affect
investigated monitored beaches?
Possible sources of pollution affecting most of
Virginia's investigated monitored beaches were not
identified in 2009 (Figure 4).

For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Virginia:
www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/DEE/
BeachMonitoring/
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
    9-,
    8-
 g7-
 °  6-
 «  5-
    5
 O  3-
 Z2
    1 -
    0
                0
      0
                  2       3-7      8-30     >30
                 Duration of Actions (Days)
Figure 3: Beach days with
          and without
          notification
          actions.
            Beach days
           with an action:
               51
              (0.8%)
                  Beach days
                 with no action
                    6,681
                    (99.2%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2007-2009.

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
2007
47
8
17%
1%
2008
44
6
14%
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