&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Washington 2011 Swimming Season
September 2012
EPA820-F-12-042
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 Washington for the 2011 swimming
season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Washington monitored 81 coastal beaches in
12 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, Washington 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.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011, of the 81 coastal beaches that Washington
monitored, 9 (11 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately
the same as in previous years.
Figure 1. Washington coastal counties.
Mason
Snohomish
Kitsap
Grays Harbor
fe
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2011.
County
CLALLAM
GRAYS HARBOR
ISLAND
JEFFERSON
KING
KITSAP
MASON
PACIFIC
PIERCE
SAN JUAN
SKAGIT
SNOHOMISH
THURSTON
WHATCOM
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
88
68
110
121
97
191
71
57
123
220
68
40
42
59
1,355
Monitored
10
4
3
6
11
15
5
0
11
0
2
7
12
5
81
Not
Monitored
78
64
107
115
86
176
66
57
112
220
66
33
40
54
1,274
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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
11.1%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Washington issued nine notification actions during
the 2011 swimming season. Typically Washington
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For approximately half of the actions,
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
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach \
• To the Beach
93.6%
96.0%
98.4%
98.2%
96.6%
multiplying the length of the beach season by
the number of beaches in the state. For 2011
EPA calculated that 6,840 beach days were
associated with the swimming seasons of the
81 monitored Washington beaches. Washington
reported notification actions on 439 days,
meaning that beaches were open and safe for
swimming approximately 94 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Washington beach
program contact:
Julie Lowe
Washington Departments of Ecology and Health
Tel: 360-407-6543
e-mail: julie.lowe@ecy.wa.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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