&EFA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA's BEACH Report:
Makah Tribe 2012 Swimming Season
September 2013
EPA820-F-13-031
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
Makah Tribe for the 2012 swimming season.
2012 Swimming Season
Monitoring and Notification
Actions
The Makah Tribe monitored six coastal beaches
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, Makah Tribe officials issue a
beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
swimming.
How many beaches had notification actions?
In 2012, one of the five coastal beaches that the
Makah Tribe monitored had a notification action
(Figure 2).
Figure 1. Makah Tribe
Table 1. Number of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
for 2012
MAKAH
Total Not
Beaches Monitored Monitored
14
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Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
more notification actions
Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
actions in 2012
8 days
100%
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
The Makah Tribe issued one notification action
during the 2012 swimming season. Typically
the Makah Tribe lifts an action when follow-up
monitoring indicates that water quality complies
with applicable standards. The one action was eight
days in duration (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
Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
and safe for swimming
2012
2011
2010
2009
• To the Beach \
• To the Beach \
• To the Beach )
99.9%
100%
99.9%
100%
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 1,655 beach days were associated with
the swimming seasons of the six monitored
Makah Tribe beaches. The Makah Tribe reported
notification actions on eight days, meaning that
beaches were open and safe for swimming virtually
100 percent of the time. This continues the trend of
consistently high percentages of open beach days at
Makah Tribe beaches (Figure 4).
For More Information
For information about the Makah Tribe beach
program contact:
Aaron Parker
Makah Environmental Division
Tel: 360-646-2049
e-mail: aaron.parker@makah.com
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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