&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH   Report:
              Delaware  2012  Swimming  Season
              September 2013
                      EPA 820-F-13-055
  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 Delaware for the 2012 swimming season.


  2012 Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Delaware monitored 15 coastal beaches in Sussex
  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, Delaware 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 15 coastal beaches that Delaware
  monitored, only one (seven percent) had a
  notification action (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Delaware coastal counties
Table 1. Number of monitored and
       unmonitored coastal beaches by
       county for 2012
• County


SUSSEX
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
15
15
Monitored
15
15
Not
Monitored
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
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Delaware issued one notification action that
lasted one day during the 2012 swimming season.
Typically Delaware lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards.

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 the number of
beaches in the state. For 2012 EPA calculated

                                                        2201

                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008
             • To the Beach \
             • To the Beach )
             MTo the Beach)
             |§To the Beach
 99.9%

100.0%

 98.3%

 96.4%

 99.6%
that 1,890 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 15 monitored Delaware
beaches. Delaware reported notification actions on
1 day, meaning that beaches were open and safe for
swimming 99.9 percent of the time. This continues
the trend of consistently high percentages of open
beach days at beaches in Delaware (Figure 4).


For  More Information
For information about the Delaware beach program
contact:
Debbie Rouse
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control
Tel: 302-739-9939
e-mail: debbie.rouse@state.de.us
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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