&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
North Carolina 2011 Swimming Season
August 2012
EPA820-F-12-030
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 North Carolina for the 2011 swimming
season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
North Carolina monitored 240 coastal beaches
in 17 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, North Carolina officials
issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible
risks of swimming.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011, of the 240 coastal beaches that North
Carolina monitored, 19 (8 percent) had at least one
notification action. This is approximately the same
as in previous years (Figure 2).
Figure 1. North Carolina coastal counties.
Currituck
Camden
Pasquotank \
PerquimanSx VI
Beaufort
Craven
Onslow
/-—i
Render
ew Hano
Brunswick
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2011.
County
BEAUFORT
BERTIE
BRUNSWICK
CAMDEN
CARTERET
CHOWAN
CRAVEN
CURRITUCK
DARE
HYDE
NEW HANOVER
ONSLOW
RAM LI CO
PASQUOTANK
RENDER
PERQUIMANS
TYRRELL
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
10
1
39
2
53
1
8
9
57
5
21
16
9
1
6
1
1
240
Monitored
10
1
39
2
53
1
8
9
57
5
21
16
9
1
6
1
1
240
Not
Monitored
0
0
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
13%
Over 30 days
9%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
North Carolina issued 23 notification actions
during the 2011 swimming season. Typically North
Carolina lifts an action when follow-up monitoring
indicates that water quality complies with
applicable standards. For the majority of actions
(65 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
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach \
• To the Beach)
99.7%
98.3%
99.1%
99.7%
99.6%
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
that 61,360 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 240 monitored North
Carolina beaches. North Carolina reported
notification actions on 173 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 North Carolina beach
program contact:
J. D. Potts
Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water
Quality Section
Tel: 252-726-6827
e-mail: j.d.potts@ncdenr.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/.
------- |