&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 ------- 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/. ------- |