&EFA
     United States
     Environmental Protection
     Agency
               EPA's  BEACH  Report:
               New Hampshire 2011 Swimming Season
              August 2012
                       EPA 820-F-12-020
  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 Hampshire for the 2011 swimming
  season.

  2077 Swimming Season Monitoring and
  Notification Actions
  New Hampshire monitored 16 coastal beaches
  in Rockingham County 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 Hampshire officials issue a beach advisory,
  warning people of possible risks of swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011 of the 16 coastal beaches that New
  Hampshire monitored, 3 (19 percent) had at least
  one notification action (Figure 2). This is the lowest
  percentage since 2007.
Figure 1. New Hampshire coastal county.
Table 1.
 County
 ROCKINGHAM
 TOTALS
Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2011.
       Total              Not
      Beaches   Monitored  Monitored
        16
        16
16
16

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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
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
New Hampshire issued four notification actions
during the 2011 swimming season. Typically
New Hampshire lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards.  For three of the actions
(75 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
that 1,568 beach days were associated with the
                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008

                                                        2007
             • To the Beach \
             • To the Beach )
             MTo the Beach \
99.4%

99.0%

99.3%

99.1%

99.9%
swimming seasons of the 16 monitored New
Hampshire beaches. New Hampshire reported
notification actions on 9 days, meaning that
beaches were open and safe for swimming over
99 percent of the time. This continues the trend of
consistently high percentages of open beach days
at state beaches (Figure 4).


For More Information
For information about the New Hampshire beach
program contact:
Sonya Carlson
New Hampshire Department of
Environmental Sciences
Tel: 603-271-0698
e-mail: beaches@des.nh.gov
For general information about beaches visit:
http://water.epa.goy/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.

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