&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Connecticut 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-024
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
Connecticut for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Connecticut reports 73 coastal beaches in four
counties (Figure 1). Connecticut monitored 72 of
these beaches during the 2012 swimming season
(Table 1).
When monitoring results at swimming beaches
show that levels of specific indicator bacteria in the
water exceed applicable water quality standards,
Connecticut officials issue a beach advisory,
warning people of possible risks of swimming or
close the beach to public swimming until further
monitoring finds that water quality complies with
applicable standards. In some cases, advisories
and closings are issued preemptively (i.e., without
having actual bacteria monitoring results) due
to storms or other conditions that might affect
swimmer safety.
Figure 1. Connecticut coastal counties
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2012
County
FAIRFIELD
MIDDLESEX
NEW HAVEN
NEW LONDON
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
28
5
27
13
73
Monitored
28
5
27
12
72
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
1
1
-------
Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
more notification actions
Figure
ure 3: Duration of beach notification
actions in 2012
8-30 days
5%
Over 30 days
1%
3-7 days
10%
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 72 coastal beaches that Connecticut
monitored, 37 (51 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is a decrease
from 2011, the year of Hurricane Irene.
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Connecticut issued 92 notification actions during
the 2012 swimming season. Typically Connecticut
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For the majority of cases (84 percent)
water quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within one or two days
(Figure 3). Only rarely (six percent) did notification
actions last more than a week.
Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
and safe for swimming
• To the Beach 1
Ji To the Beach >
l-re^'
2008
95.8%
91.0%
97.8%
98.4%
97.9%
What percentage of days were beaches under
a notification action?
EPA calculates the total available beach days
and the number of beach days with advisories
or closings 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 2012 EPA
calculated that 7,056 beach days were associated
with the swimming seasons of the 72 monitored
Connecticut beaches. Connecticut reported
notification actions on 298 days, meaning that
beaches were open and safe for swimming about
96 percent of the time (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Connecticut beach
program contact:
Jon Dinneen, Connecticut Department of Public
Health
Tel: 860-509-7305
e-mail: jon.dinneen@ct.gov
For general information about beaches visit:
http://water.epa.goy/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.
------- |