EPA's BEACH Report: Pennsylvania 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 State of Pennsylvania for the 2009 swimming season. Figure 1. Pennsylvania coastal counties. Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2009. Total Not Beaches Monitored Monitored TOTALS 13 13 ------- 2009 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? When water quality standards are exceeded at a partic- ular beach, Pennsylvania's approach is to issue a beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the water. A total of 11 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2009 swimming season. All of Pennsylvania's 26 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 Pennsylvania's 2009 swimming season, actions were reported about 3 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? Figure 4 displays the percentage of Pennsylvania's investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by various pollution sources. In 2009, sources of pollution at 13 investigated beaches were unknown. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information regarding sample results for all permitted bathing beaches contact the Erie County Department of Health at (814) 451-6700 or on the web at www.ecdh.org Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 18 2 3-7 8-30 Duration of Actions (Days) >30 Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 34 (3%) Beach days with no action 1,253 (97%) 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 13 8 61% 2% 2008 12 11 92% 11% 2009 13 11 85% 3% Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by possible pollution sources (13 beaches). Percent of beaches 0 10 20 30 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 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Note: A single beach may have multiple sources. 100 ------- |