w EPA's BEACH Report: Alaska 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 Alaska for the 2009 swimming season. Figure 1. Alaska coastal communities. Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by community for 2009. Community NAKNEK DILLINGHAM JUNEAU TOTALS Total Beaches 1 1 1 3 Monitored 1 1 1 3 Not Monitored 0 0 0 0 ------- 2009 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? When water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach, Alaska's approach is to issue a beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the water. None of the 3 monitored beaches had an advisory issued during the 2009 swimming season. What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action? No actions were reported during Alaska's 2009 swimming season (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 Alaska's investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by various pollution sources. In 2009, 2 out of 3 of their beaches reported that sources of pollution were unknown. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in Alaska: www.dec.state.ak.us/water/wqsar/wqs/ beachprogram.htm Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. c o 0 0 0 2 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 0000 1 - 2 Days 3-7 Days 8-30 Days Duration of Actions (days) Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions. >30 Days Beach days with an action 0 (0%) Beach days with no action 270 (100%) 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 3 0 0% 0% 2008 3 0 0% 0% 2009 3 0 0% 0% Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by possible pollution sources (3 beaches). o 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) 10 20 30 Percent of beaches 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 33 Note: A single beach may have multiple sources. 67 ------- |