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