&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Grand Portage 2011 Swimming Season
October 2012
EPA820-F-12-050
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
Grand Portage Band of the Chippewa for the 2011
swimming season.
2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
The Grand Portage Band monitored 11 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, Grand Portage Band
officials issue a beach advisory, warning people of
possible risks of swimming.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011, of the 11 coastal beaches that the Grand
Portage Band monitored, 6 (54 percent) had at least
one notification action (Figure 2). The increase in
the number of beaches and action days in 2011
compared to the two previous years is directly due
to a severe storm in June that resulted in a federal
disaster area declaration for 13 Minnesota counties
and three tribal areas, including the Grand Portage
Band tribal reservation. Besides the June event
Figure 1. Grand Portage Reservation.
Grand Portage
Band of the
Chippewa
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
for 2011.
Total Not
Beaches Monitored Monitored
GRAND PORTAGE
11
11
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Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
more notification actions
Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
actions in 2011
the Grand Portage Band reported only one other
notification action at one beach for the rest of the
swimming season.
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
The Grand Portage Band issued six notification
actions during the 2011 swimming season. The
Grand Portage Band lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards. In all cases water quality
returned to normal and beaches were deemed safe
for swimming within a week (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
and safe for swimming
2011
2010
2009
• To the Beach
• To the Beach
open
^
96.8%
98.1%
99.4%
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 1,331 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 11 monitored Grand
Portage Band beaches. The Grand Portage Band
reported notification actions on 42 days, meaning
that beaches were open and safe for swimming
about 97 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 Grand Portage Band of
the Chippewa beach program contact:
Margaret Watkins
Environmental Department
Tel: 218-475-2415
e-mail: Watkins@boreal.org
For general information about beaches visit:
http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.goy/beacon2/.
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