&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              Makah Tribe 2011  Swimming Season
              October 2012
                      EPA820-F-12-049
  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
  Makah Tribe for the 2011 swimming season.


  2011 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  The Makah Tribe monitored 5 coastal beaches
  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, Makah Tribe officials issue a
  beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
  swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011, none of the 5 coastal beaches that the
  Makah Tribe monitored had a notification action
  (Figure 2). This is consistent with previous years.
 Figure 1. Makah Tribe.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
       unmonitored coastal beaches
       for 2011.
 MAKAH
              Total              Not
             Beaches   Monitored  Monitored
               13

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   Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
            more notification actions
   Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
            actions in 2011
                                  0 days
                                  100%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
The Makah Tribe issued no notification actions
during the 2011 swimming season. If an action
were to occur, the Makah Tribe would lift the
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
In 2011 Makah Tribe beaches were deemed safe for
swimming 100 percent of the time (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
   Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
            and safe for swimming

                                                        2011
                                                        2010
                                                        2009
             • To the Beach  V
100%
                                  99.9%
             • To the Beach  \
100%
to better track trends over time. Total available
beach days are determined by multiplying the
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
that 460 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 5 monitored Makah Tribe
beaches. The Makah Tribe reported notification
actions on 0 days, meaning that beaches were
open and safe for swimming 100 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 Makah Tribe beach
program contact:
Andrew Winck
Tel: 360-646-4400
e-mail: andrew.winck@makah.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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