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
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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 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
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