&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              North  Carolina 2012 Swimming Season
              September 2013
                      EPA820-F-13-045
  Introduction
  The Beaches Environmental Assessment and
  Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000 authorizes
  EPA to provide grants to coastal and Great Lakes
  states, territories, and eligible tribes to monitor
  their coastal beaches for bacteria that indicate the
  possible presence of disease-causing pathogens
  and to notify the public when there is a potential
  risk to public health. The BEACH Act requires that
  recipients of those grants report their coastal beach
  monitoring and notification data to EPA. This fact
  sheet highlights the data submitted to EPA by the
  State of North Carolina for the 2012 swimming
  season.


  2012 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  North Carolina monitored 240 coastal beaches
  in 17 counties during the 2012 swimming season
  (Figure 1 and Table 1). When monitoring results
  at swimming beaches show that levels of specific
  indicator bacteria in the water exceed applicable
  water quality standards, North Carolina officials
  issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible
  risks of swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2012, of the 240 coastal beaches that North
  Carolina monitored, 16 (7 percent) had at least one
  notification action. This is approximately the same
  as in previous years (Figure 2).
 Figure 1. North Carolina coastal counties
                           Beaufort
                           Craven
                         Onslow
                        Pen'Ser
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2012

County
BEAUFORT
BERTIE
BRUNSWICK
CAM DEN
CARTERET
CHOWAN
CRAVEN
CURRITUCK
DARE
HYDE
NEW HANOVER
ONSLOW
RAM LI CO
PASQUOTANK
RENDER
PERQUIMANS
TYRRELL
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
10
1
39
2
53
1
8
9
57
5
21
16
9
1
6
1
1
240

Monitored
10
1
39
2
53
1
8
9
57
5
21
16
9
1
6
1
1
240
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0


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   Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
            more notification actions
                         Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
                                   and safe for swimming
   Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
            actions in 2012
         8-30 days
            23%
Over 30 days
    4%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
North Carolina issued 22 notification actions
during the 2012 swimming season. Typically North
Carolina lifts an action when follow-up monitoring
indicates that water quality complies with
applicable standards. For the majority of actions
(55 percent) water quality returned to normal and
beaches were deemed safe for swimming within
one or two days (Figure 3).

What percentage of days were beaches under
a notification action?
EPA calculates the total available beach days and
the number of beach days with notification actions
to better track trends over time. Total available
beach days are determined by multiplying the

                                                        2012

                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008
                                    • To the Beach)
                                    • To the Beach!
                                    |§To the Beach)
                                    MTo the Beach }
                                    • To the Beach)
99.7%

99.7%

98.3%

99.1%

99.7%
                       length of the beach season by the number of
                       beaches in the state. For 2012 EPA calculated
                       that 51,360 beach days were associated with the
                       swimming seasons of the 240 monitored North
                       Carolina beaches. North Carolina reported
                       notification actions on 169 days, meaning that
                       beaches were open and safe for swimming over
                       99 percent of the time. This continues the trend of
                       consistently high percentages of open beach days at
                       beaches in North Carolina (Figure 4).


                       For More Information
                       For information about the North Carolina beach
                       program contact:
                       J. D. Potts
                       Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water
                       Quality Section
                       Tel: 252-808-8154
                       e-mail:  j.d.potts@ncdenr.gov
                       For general information about beaches visit:
                       http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/beaches/.
                       For information about a specific beach visit:
                       http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.

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