&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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