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