&EFA United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA's BEACH Report: Pennsylvania 2012 Swimming Season September 2013 EPA820-F-13-041 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 Pennsylvania for the 2012 swimming season. 2012 Swimming Season Monitoring and Notification Actions Pennsylvania monitored 13 coastal beaches in one county during the 2012 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, Pennsylvania officials issue a beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of swimming. Figure 1. Pennsylvania coastal county Erie r Table 1. Number of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2012 County ERIE TOTALS Total Beaches 13 13 Monitored 13 13 Not Monitored 0 0 ------- Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or more notification actions Figure 4: Percent of beach days open and safe for swimming Figure 3: Duration of beach notification actions in 2012 How many beaches had notification actions? In 2012, of the thirteen coastal beaches that Pennsylvania monitored, eight (62 percent) had at least one notification action (Figure 2). How many notification actions were issued and how long did they last? Pennsylvania issued 41 notification actions during the 2012 swimming season. Typically Pennsylvania lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that water quality complies with applicable standards. For the majority of actions (93 percent) water quality returned to normal and beaches were deemed safe for swimming within one or two days (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 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 • To the Beach \ 11 To the Beach) • To the Beach ) 94.9% > 98.5% 98.9% 97.4% 96.3% 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 1,300 beach days were associated with the swimming seasons of the 13 monitored Pennsylvania beaches. Pennsylvania reported notification actions on 66 days, meaning that beaches were open and safe for swimming about 95 percent of the time. This continues the trend of high percentages of open beach days at beaches in Erie County, PA (Figure 4). For More Information For information about the Erie County, PA beach program contact: Maria Liggett Erie County Department of Health Tel: 814-451-6771 e-mail: mliggett@ecdh.org 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/. ------- |