&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              Ohio 2012 Swimming  Season
              September 2013
                      EPA820-F-13-051
  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 Ohio for the 2012 swimming season.


  2012 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Ohio monitored 61 coastal beaches in seven
  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, Ohio officials issue a
  beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
  swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2012, of the 61 coastal beaches that Ohio
  monitored, 57 (93 percent) had at least one
  notification action (Figure 2). This is approximately
  the same percentage as in previous years.
Figure 1. Ohio coastal counties
                           Ashtabula,
                            Lake i
Table 1. Number of monitored and
       unmonitored coastal beaches by
       county for 2012

County
ASHTABULA
CUYAHOGA
ERIE
LAKE
LOR AIM
LUCAS
OTTAWA
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
4
19
25
2
2
2
7
61

Monitored
4
19
25
2
2
2
7
61
Not
Monitored
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

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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
                8-30 days
                   7%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Ohio issued 408 notification actions during the
2012 swimming season. Typically Ohio lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (65 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
to better track trends over time. Total available
beach days are determined by multiplying the

                                                        2012

                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             • To the Beach)
             MTo the Beach)
80.4%

82.4%

82.3%

82.6%

82.6%
length of the beach season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2012 EPA calculated
that 6,510 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 61 monitored Ohio
beaches. Ohio reported notification actions on
1,278 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 80 percent of the time.
This is consistent with percentages of open beach
days in previous years (Figure 4).


For More Information
For information about the Ohio beach program
contact:
Mary Clifton
Ohio Department of Health
Tel: 614-466-6736
e-mail:  mary.clifton@odh.ohio.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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