&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Illinois 2011 Swimming Season
August 2012
EPA820-F-12-019
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 Illinois for the 2011 swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Illinois reports 56 beaches located in two counties
(Figure 1). Illinois monitored 50 of those beaches
during the 2011 swimming season (Table 1). When
monitoring results at swimming beaches show
that levels of specific indicator bacteria in the
water exceed applicable water quality standards,
Illinois 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 50 coastal beaches that Illinois
monitored, 48 (96 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately
the same as in previous years.
Figure 1. Illinois coastal counties.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2011.
County
COOK
LAKE
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
37
19
56
Monitored
37
13
50
Not
Monitored
0
6
6
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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
1-2 days
91%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Illinois issued 326 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Illinois lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (91 percent) water
quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or 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
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)
90.2%
87.6%
88.5%
88.8%
83.4%
that 4,863 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 50 monitored Illinois
beaches. Illinois reported notification actions on
477 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 90 percent of the time.
This improves on the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at state beaches
(Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Illinois beach program
contact:
Justin DeWitt
Illinois Department of Public Health
Tel: 217-782-5830
e-mail: justin.dewitt@illinois.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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