&EFA
     United States
     Environmental Protection
     Agency
               EPA's  BEACH   Report:
               Massachussetts 2011  Swimming Season
              August 2012
                       EPA820-F-12-031
  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
  Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the 2011
  swimming season.


  2011 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Massachusetts monitored 599 coastal beaches in
  eight 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, Massachusetts 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.
  In some cases, advisories and closings are issued
  preemptively (i.e., without having actual bacteria
  monitoring results) due to storms or other
  conditions that might affect swimmer safety.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011, of the 599 coastal beaches that
  Massachusetts monitored, 213 (36 percent) had
Figure 1. Massachusetts coastal counties.
                                   Naffitucket
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2011.

County
BARNSTABLE
BRISTOL
DUKES
ESSEX
NANTUCKET
NORFOLK
PLYMOUTH
SUFFOLK
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
265
44
48
89
18
24
87
24
599

Monitored
265
44
48
89
18
24
87
24
599
Not
Monitored
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
          5%
               Over 30 days
                   1%
at least one notification action (Figure 2). This is
approximately the same as in previous years.

How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Massachusetts issued 483 notification actions
during the 2011 swimming season. Typically
Massachusetts lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards. For the majority
of actions (73 percent) water quality returned
to normal and beaches were  deemed safe for
swimming within one or two days (Figure 3). Only
rarely (6 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
                                                         2011

                                                         2010

                                                         2009

                                                         2008

                                                         2007
                                                            • To the Beachy
                                                            • To the Beachy
                                                            • To the Beach);
                                                                 To the Beach
97.6%

97.7%

97.1%

97.9%

98.7%
                                              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 63,494 beach days were associated with
                                              the swimming seasons of the 599 monitored
                                              Massachusetts beaches. Massachusetts reported
                                              notification actions on 1,549 days, meaning that
                                              beaches were open and safe for swimming about
                                              98 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 Massachusetts beach
                                              program contact:
                                              Mike Beattie
                                              Massachusetts Department of Public Health
                                              Tel: 617-624-5757
                                              e-mail: mike.beattie@state.ma.us
                                              For general information about beaches visit:
                                              http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/beaches/.
                                              For information about a specific beach visit:
                                              http://watersgeo.epa.goy/beacon2/.

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