&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Rhode Island 2011 Swimming Season
September 2012
EPA820-F-12-043
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 Rhode Island for the 2011 swimming
season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Rhode Island monitored 72 coastal beaches in
four 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, Rhode Island officials
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 72 coastal beaches that Rhode
Island monitored, 18 (25 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately
the same as in previous years.
Figure 1. Rhode Island coastal counties.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2011.
County
BRISTOL
KENT
NEWPORT
PROVIDENCE
WASHINGTON
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
20
16
86
8
100
230
Monitored
4
4
18
0
46
72
Not
Monitored
16
12
68
8
54
158
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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
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Rhode Island issued 37 notification actions during
the 2011 swimming season. Typically Rhode Island
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For the majority of actions (81 percent)
water quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or two days
(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
length of the beach season by the number of
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach)
• To the Beach)
99.0%
99.0%
97.4%
98.3%
99.0%
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
that 7,200 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 22 monitored Rhode
Island beaches. Rhode Island reported notification
actions on 74 days, meaning that beaches were
open and safe for swimming about 99 percent of
the time. This continues the trend of consistently
high percentages of open beach days at state
beaches (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Rhode Island beach
program contact:
Amie Parris
Rhode Island Department of Health
and Environmental Control
Tel: 401-222-7727
e-mail: amie.parris@health.ri.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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