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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