&EFA United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA's BEACH Report: Maine 2011 Swimming Season July 2012 EPA820-F-12-013 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 Maine for the 2011 swimming season. 2011 Swimming Season Monitoring and Notification Actions Maine reports 69 coastal beaches located in seven counties. Of this total, Maine monitored 61 of these beaches 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, Maine officials issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of swimming. How many beaches had notification actions? In 2011 of the 61 coastal beaches that Maine monitored, 18 (30 percent) had at least one notification action. This is the lowest percentage of beaches with actions in the past five years (Figure 2). Maine reports that the decrease in the number of beaches with notification actions, as well as a decrease in the number of beach days with actions, is likely linked to multi-year enhanced monitoring and source-tracking efforts in rivers, Figure 1. Maine coastal counties. Table 1. Number of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2011. County CUMBERLAND HANCOCK KNOX LINCOLN SAGADAHOC WALDO WASHINGTON YORK TOTALS Total Beaches 9 6 4 1 7 3 0 39 69 Monitored 9 5 3 1 6 1 0 37 61 Not Monitored 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 2 8 ------- 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 1-2 days 88% streams and storm drainage networks that impact many beaches experiencing bacterial pollution. How many notification actions were issued and how long did they last? Maine issued 51 notification actions during the 2011 swimming season. Typically Maine lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that water quality complies with applicable standards. Most notification actions (88 percent) lasted only 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 length of the beach season by the number of 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 • To the Beach \ • To the Beach ) MTo the Beach) 98.1% 96.3% 95.7% 97.0% 96.7% beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated that 5,795 beach days were associated with the swimming seasons of the 61 monitored Maine beaches. Maine reported notification actions on 112 days, meaning that beaches were open and safe for swimming about 98 percent of the time. This is a slight increase from previous years (Figure 4). For More Information For information about the Maine beach program contact: Keri Lindberg University of Maine Cooperative Extension Tel: 207-832-0343 e-mail: keri.lindberg@maine.edu 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/. ------- |