&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
               EPA's  BEACH  Report:
               Ohio  2011  Swimming  Season
              August 2012
                       EPA820-F-12-033
  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 Ohio for the 2011 swimming season.

  2077 Swimming Season Monitoring and
  Notification Actions
  Ohio monitored 56 coastal beaches in seven
  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, Ohio officials issue a
  beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
  swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011, all of the 56 coastal beaches that Ohio
  monitored had at least one notification action
  (Figure 2). This is an increase from last year when
  97 percent had actions. Ohio monitored six fewer
  beaches in 2011 than 2010.
Figure 1. Ohio coastal counties.
                           Ashtabula,
                             Lake i
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2011.

County
ASHTABULA
CUYAHOGA
ERIE
LAKE
LOR AIM
LUCAS
OTTAWA
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
4
19
25
2
2
2
7
61

Monitored
4
18
25
2
2
2
3
56
Not
Monitored
0
1
0
0
0
0
4
5

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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%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Ohio issued 340 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Ohio lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (60 percent) water
quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or two days
(Figure 3). Only rarely (5 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
                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008

                                                        2007
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             |§To the Beach)
82.4%

82.3%

82.6%

82.6%

89.6%
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 6,009 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 56 monitored Ohio
beaches. Ohio reported notification actions on
1,060 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 82 percent of the time.
This is consistent with percentages of open beach
days in previous years (Figure 4).


For More Information
For information about the Ohio beach program
contact:
Mary Clifton
Ohio Department of Health
Tel: 614-466-4736
e-mail: mary.clifton@odh.ohio.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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