&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Washington 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-042
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 Washington for the 2012 swimming
season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Washington reports 1,520 beaches located in
fourteen counties. Washington monitored 58
of these beaches in 12 counties 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,
Washington 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.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 58 coastal beaches that Washington
monitored, seven (12 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately
the same as in previous years.
Figure 1. Washington coastal counties
Mason
Snohomish
Kitsap
Grays Harbor
fe
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2012
County
CLALLAM
GRAYS HARBOR
ISLAND
JEFFERSON
KING
KITSAP
MASON
PACIFIC
PIERCE
SAN JUAN
SKAGIT
SNOHOMISH
THURSTON
WHATCOM
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
98
72
128
128
115
208
82
66
147
243
74
50
45
64
1,520
Monitored
3
3
3
3
7
12
4
0
9
0
2
7
1
4
58
Not
Monitored
95
69
125
125
108
196
78
66
138
243
72
43
44
60
1,462
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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 notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Washington issued eight notification actions during
the 2012 swimming season. Typically Washington
lifts an action when follow-up monitoring indicates
that water quality complies with applicable
standards. For three actions, water quality returned
to normal and beaches were deemed safe for
swimming within about 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 to better track trends over time.
Total available beach days are determined by
multiplying the length of the beach season by
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
• To the Beach y
• To the Beach)
MTo the Beach)
94.2%
93.6%
96.0%
98.4%
. 98.2%
the number of beaches in the state. For 2012
EPA calculated that 7,650 beach days were
associated with the swimming seasons of the
58 monitored Washington beaches. Washington
reported notification actions on 440 days,
meaning that beaches were open and safe for
swimming approximately 94 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at beaches in
Washington (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Washington beach
program contact:
Christopher Clinton
Washington Departments of Ecology and Health
Tel: 360-407-6154
e-mail: christopher.clinton@ecy.wa.gov
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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