jft0>87*>b
* O 'r°
o
EPA's BEACH Report:
Illinois 2010 Swimming Season
May 2011
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 Illinois for the 2010 swimming season.
Figure 1. Illinois coastal counties.
Cook
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.

Total

Not
County
Beaches
Monitored
Monitored
COOK
37
37
0
LAKE
19
13
6
TOTALS
56
50
6

-------
2010 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Illinois issues a beach advisory
that warns people to avoid contact with the water.
A total of 43 monitored beaches had at least one
advisory issued during the 2010 swimming season.
About 76 percent of Illinois' 288 notification actions
lasted two days or less. Figure 2 presents a full
breakdown of notification action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Illinois' 2010 swimming season, actions were
reported about 12 percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2010 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2010 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
What pollution sources possibly affect
investigated monitored beaches?
Illinois has ongoing investigations of potential
pollution sources that might affect swimming
beaches.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Illinois:
www.earth911.org/waterquality/
default. asp?cluster=17
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
200-
175-
150-
t/)
O 125-
100-
75-
50-
25-
0
2	3-7	8-30
Duration of Actions (days)
>30
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010.

2008
2009
2010
Number of monitored
beaches
52
52
50
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
49
52
43
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
94%
100%
86%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
11%
11%
12%
Beach days
with no action
7 4,307
(88.2%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
575
(11.8%)

-------