&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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