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