EPA's Beach Report: Michigan 2011 Swimming Season


&EFA
  United States
  Environmental Protection
  Agency
        EPA's BEACH  Report:
        Michigan 2011 Swimming Season
        August 2012
EPA820-F-12-022
 Introduction
The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal
Health (BEACH) Act of 2000 authorizes EPA to provide
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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 Michigan for the 2011 swimming season.








2011 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions







Michigan reports 568 coastal beaches located in 41
counties (Figure 1). Michigan monitored 237 of those
beaches during the 2011 swimming season (Table 1).
When monitoring results at swimming beaches show
that levels of specific indicator bacteria
in the water
exceed applicable water quality standards, Michigan
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.




Figure 1. Michigan coastal counties.
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county for 2011.


• Total Not
County Beaches Monitored Monitored






































ALCONA 7 6 1
ALGER 12 2 10
ALLEGAN 550
ALPENA 14 5 9
ANTRIM 16 6 10
ARENAC 15 8 7
BARAGA 12 1 11
BAY 651
BENZIE 826
BERRIEN 21 14 7
CHARLEVOIX 20 11 9
CHEBOYGAN 13 4 9
CHIPPEWA 26 10 16
DELTA 28 2 26
EMMET 21 11 10
GOGEBIC 707
GRAND TRAVERSE 32 5 27
HOUGHTON 15 7 8
HURON 24 13 11
IOSCO 13 11 2
KEWEENAW 14 1 13
LEELANAU 39 9 30
LUCE 16 0 16
MACKINAC 34 6 28
MACOMB 440
MANISTEE 10 9 1
MARQUETTE 7 5 1
MASON 10 7 3
MENOMINEE 826
MONROE 330
MUSKEGON 13 12 1
OCEANA 853
ONTONAGON 10 2 8
OTTAWA 11 9 2
PRESQUEISLE 22 3 19
SANILAC 12 5 7

SCHOOLCRAFT 954
ST. CLAIR 15 15 0
TUSCOLA 1 0 1
VAN BUREN 440
WAYNE 3 2 1
TOTALS 568 237 331

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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 2011
          8-30 days
             7%
Over 30 days
    2%
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2011 of the 237 coastal beaches that Michigan
monitored, 71 (30 percent) had at least one
notification action (Figure 2). This is higher than
in previous years, however, Michigan monitored
30 more beaches in 2011 than 2010.

How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Michigan issued 128 notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Michigan lifts
an action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
For the majority of actions (67 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 the Beach)
                                                             96.8%

                                                             96.8%

                                                             96.8%

                                                             98.2%

                                                             97.3%
                            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 2011 EPA calculated
                            that 23,642 beach days were associated with the
                            swimming seasons of the 237 monitored Michigan
                            beaches. Michigan reported notification actions
                            on 745 days, meaning that beaches were open
                            and safe for swimming about 97 percent of the
                            time. This continues the trend of consistently high
                            percentages of open beach days at state beaches
                            (Figure 4).


                            For More Information
                            For information about the Michigan beach program
                            contact:
                            Shannon Briggs
                            Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
                            Tel: 517-335-1214
                            e-mail: briggss4@michigan.gov
                            For general information about beaches visit:
                            http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/beaches/.
                            For information about a specific beach visit:
                            http://watersgeo.epa.goy/beacon2/.

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