&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 ------- 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/. ------- |