&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              American Samoa 2011  Swimming Season
              September 2012
                       EPA 820-F-12-041
  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
  American Samoa for the 2011 swimming season.


  2011 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  American Samoa monitored 50 coastal beaches in
  three districts 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, American Samoa officials
  issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible
  risks of swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011, of the 50 coastal beaches that American
  Samoa monitored, 46 (92 percent) had at least one
  notification action. This is approximately the same
  as in previous years (Figure 2).
Figure 1. American Samoa coastal districts.
        Eastern
                           Manu'a
 Western

District




EASTERN
MANU'A
WESTERN
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
36
5
9
50

Monitored
36
5
9
50
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
Table 1.  Number of monitored and
        unmonitored coastal beaches by
        county for 2011.

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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
                    Over 30 days
                       11%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
American Samoa issued 359 notification actions
during the 2011 swimming season. Typically
American Samoa lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards. For the majority of
actions (57 percent), water quality returned
to normal and beaches were deemed safe for
swimming within a week or less (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
       2011

       2010

       2009

       2008

       2007

                                                              • To the Beach)
                                                              • To the Beach
70.1%

67.5%

69.8%

68.1%

72.5%
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
that 18,250 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 50 monitored American
Samoa beaches. American Samoa reported
notification actions on 5,460 days, meaning that
beaches were open and safe for swimming about
70 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 American Samoa beach
program contact:
Christianera Tuitele
Environmental Protection Agency
Tel: 684-633-2304
e-mail: christianatuitele3@gmail.com
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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