f*Q\ EPA's BEACH Report:
Hawaii 2008 Swimming Season
July 2009
Introduction
The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal
and Great Lakes states and territories report
to EPA on beach monitoring and notification
data for their coastal recreation waters.
The BEACH Act defines coastal recreation
waters as the Great Lakes and coastal waters
(including coastal estuaries) that states,
territories, and authorized tribes officially
recognize or designate for swimming,
bathing, surfing, or similar activities in the
water.
This fact sheet summarizes beach monitoring
and notification data submitted to EPA by
the State of Hawaii for the 2008 swimming
season.
Under the BEACH Act, almost all of Hawaii's
coastal waters are considered "beaches." A
beach can be a cliff, rocky shoreline, or a
sandy stretch of coastline. As long as the
water along the coastline is used for full
contact water recreation, it is considered a
beach.
Hawaii's monitoring program focuses on
intensity of use, as the guide in the selection
of beaches to be monitored and the frequency
of sampling. Hawaii's 444 beaches represent
about 297 miles of coastline, of which 91
miles are monitored. On Oahu, where most
of the State's population resides, 144 beaches
represents about 125 miles of coastline, of
which 55 miles are monitored.
Figure 1. Hawaii coastal counties.
Kauai
Honolulu
Maui
ci	,
Hawaii
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2008.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
HAWAII
104
35
69
HONOLULU
144
133
11
KAUAI
73
37
36
MAUI
123
43
80
TOTALS
444
248
196

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2008 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Hawaii's approach is to issue a
beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact
with the ocean water. A total of 7 beaches had at
least one advisory issued during the 2008 swimming
season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of
notification action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Hawaii's 2008 swimming season, actions were
reported less than 1 percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2008 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2008 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
What pollution sources possibly affect
investigated monitored beaches?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Hawaii's
monitored beaches possibly affected by various
pollution sources. In 2008,100 percent of the
beaches included storm-related runoff as a known
potential source.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Hawaii:
www.hawaii.gov/health/environmental/water/
cleanwater/index.html
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
V)
c
£ 3
o
<
o 2
o
1	2	3-7	8-30
Duration of Actions (Days)
>30
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2006-2008.

2006
2007
2008
Number of monitored
beaches
112
115
248
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
16
8
7
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
14%
7%
3%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
1%
<1%
<1%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by
possible pollution sources (248 beaches).
0
Investigated / no sources found
Non-storm related runoff
Storm-related runoff
Agricultural runoff
Boat discharge
Cone, animal feeding operation
Combined sewer overflow
Sanitary sewer overflow
Publicly-owned treatment works
Sewer line leak or break
Septic system leakage
Wildlife
Other (identified) source(s)
Unidentified source(s)
10 20
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
100
Beach days
with no action
90,456
(99.9%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days with
an action:
64
(0.1%)

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