&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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