&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Wisconsin 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-052
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 Wisconsin for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Wisconsin reports 193 coastal beaches in
15 counties. Wisconsin monitored 117 of these
beaches in 13 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, Wisconsin
officials issue a beach advisory, warning people
of possible risks of swimming or close the beach
to public swimming until further monitoring
finds that water quality complies with applicable
standards. In some cases, advisories and closings
are issued preemptively (i.e., without having actual
bacteria monitoring results) due to storms or other
conditions that might affect swimmer safety.
Figure 1. Wisconsin coastal counties
Manitowoc
Sheboygan
Ozaukee
Milwaukee
Racine
i nee
Kenosha
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2012
County
ASHLAND
BAYFIELD
BROWN
DOOR
DOUGLAS
IRON
KENOSHA
KEWAUNEE
MANITOWOC
MARINETTE
MILWAUKEE
OCONTO
OZAUKEE
RACINE
SHEBOYGAN
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
7
19
9
53
16
5
7
5
17
6
13
1
12
7
16
193
Monitored
7
17
3
31
12
5
5
2
9
0
9
0
7
2
8
117
Not
Monitored
0
2
6
22
4
0
2
3
8
6
4
1
5
5
8
76
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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
76%
Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
actions in 2012
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 117 coastal beaches that Wisconsin
monitored, 89 (76 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately
the same as in most previous years with the
exception of 2009.
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Wisconsin issued 556 notification actions during
the 2012 swimming season. Typically Wisconsin
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For the majority of actions (94 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
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach >
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach)
93.8%
94.4%
92.2%
96.4%
92.9%
to better track trends over time. Total available
beach days are determined by multiplying the
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2012 EPA calculated
that 11,149 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 117 monitored Wisconsin
beaches. Wisconsin reported notification actions
on 696 days, meaning that beaches were open
and safe for swimming about 94 percent of the
time. This continues the trend of consistently
high percentages of open beach days at beaches in
Wisconsin (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Wisconsin beach
program contact:
Donalea Dinsmore
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Tel: 608-266-1926
e-mail: donalea.dinsmore@wisconsin.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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