&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Hawaii 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-054
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 Hawaii for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
Hawaii monitored 147 coastal beaches in four
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, Hawaii officials issue
a beach advisory, warning people of possible
risks of swimming. In some cases, advisories are
issued preemptively (i.e., without having actual
bacteria monitoring results) due to storms or other
conditions that might affect swimmer safety.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, of the 147 coastal beaches that Hawaii
monitored, 50 (34 percent) had actions due to
rainfall (Figure 2). All were located in Honolulu
and Kauai. Unlike in 2009 and 2011, no state-wide
advisories were issued.
Figure 1. Hawaii coastal counties
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2012
County
HAWAII
HONOLULU
KAUAI
MAUI
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
84
137
63
127
411
Monitored
47
29
21
50
147
Not
Monitored
37
108
42
77
264
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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
3-7 days
40%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Hawaii issued 272 notification actions during the
2012 swimming season. With the exception of one
sewage contamination advisory, all the actions
were rain advisories associated with specific
storms: March 5-March 11, 2012 for the Honolulu
beaches; and February 27-March 23 and July 21 for
the Kauai beaches. Typically Hawaii lifts an action
when follow-up monitoring indicates that water
quality complies with applicable standards. For
the majority of actions (69 percent) water quality
returned to normal and beaches were deemed safe
for swimming within a week or less (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)
• To the Beach
98.6%
96.4%
99.8%
98.7%
99.9%
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 53,655 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 147 monitored Hawaii
beaches. Hawaii reported notification actions on
729 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 99 percent of the time.
This continues the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at beaches in
Hawaii (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Hawaii beach program
contact:
Dale Mikami
Department of Health
Tel: 808-586-4331
e-mail: Clinton.mikami@doh.hawaii.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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