&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
New York 2011 Swimming Season
July 2012
EPA820-F-12-014
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 New York for the 2011 swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
A total of 334 coastal beaches were monitored in
15 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, New York 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 of the 334 coastal beaches that New York
monitored, 212 (64 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is a higher
percentage than previous years primarily because
of Hurricane Irene's landfall in late August which
affected most of the beaches in Suffolk County.
Figure 1. New York coastal counties.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
by county for 2011.
County
BRONX
CAYUGA
CHAUTAUQUA
ERIE
JEFFERSON
KINGS
MONROE
NASSAU
NIAGARA
OSWEGO
QUEENS
RICHMOND
SUFFOLK
WAYNE
WESTCHESTER
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
10
1
6
9
2
6
4
68
2
6
5
4
186
2
23
334
Monitored
10
1
6
9
2
6
4
68
2
6
5
4
186
2
23
334
Not
Monitored
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 2011
8-30 days
2%
1-2 days
67%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
New York issued 849 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically New York lifts
an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (67 percent) water
quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or two days
(Figure 3). Only rarely (2 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
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach)
MTo the Beach)
To the Beach)
94.2%
97.1%
94.7%
95.7%
95.9%
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
that 34,650 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 334 monitored New York
beaches. New York reported notification actions
on 1,997 days, meaning that beaches were open
and safe for swimming about 94 percent of the
time. This percentage is similar to previous years
(Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the New York beach
program contact:
Douglas Sackett
New York Department of Health
Tel: 518-402-7600
e-mail: desQ2@health.state.ny.us
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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