&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
          EPA's BEACH  Report:
          Indiana  2011   Swimming Season
         July 2012
                       EPA 820-F-l2-011
  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 Indiana for the 2011 swimming season.


  2011 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Indiana monitored 24 coastal beaches in three
  counties during the 2011 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, Indiana 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.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011 all of the 24 monitored coastal beaches that
  Indiana monitored had at least one notification
  action. This is the same as in most previous years
  (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Indiana coastal counties.

County




LA PORTE
LAKE
PORTER
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
8
10
6
24

Monitored
8
10
6
24
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2011.

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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 2011

              8-30 days
                 1%
                                   1-2 days
                                    76%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Indiana issued 196 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Indiana lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (76 percent) water
quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or two days
(Figure 3). Only rarely (1 percent) did notification
actions last more than a week.

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
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008

                                                        2007
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             MTo the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
85.4%

82.5%

85.2%

84.8%

83.0%
that 2,506 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 24 monitored Indiana
beaches. Indiana reported notification actions on
365 days, meaning that beaches were open and safe
for swimming about 85 percent of the time. This
percentage is similar to previous years (Figure 4).


For More Information
For information about the Indiana beach program
contact:
Michelle Caldwell
Indiana Department of Environmental
Management
Tel: 219-757-0283
e-mail: mcaldwel@idem.in.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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