t O % i®/ "'i PROrt^ EPA's BEACH Report: Hawaii 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 Hawaii for the 2010 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. Recent budget cuts and reductions in force have drastically affected the monitoring of Oahu beaches by the Hawaii Department of Health, The monitoring section lost five employees on the island of Oahu. As a result, Oahu sampling was concentrated only on Tier 1 beaches in 2010. Tier 2 beaches on the island of Oahu were normally monitored on a rotating six-month schedule prior to the staffing reduction. On the islands of Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai, Tier 1 beaches were monitored three times a week, and Tier 2 beaches were monitored twice a month in 2010. Figure 1. Hawaii coastal counties. o- Kauai c Honolulu Maui Hawaii Table 1. Monitored coastal beaches by island for 2010. County Total Beaches Monitored Not Monitored HAWAII 82 50 32 HONOLULU 112 27 8:5 KAUAI 64 15 49 MAUI 127 127 73 TOTALS 385 146 239 ------- 2010 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? When water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach, Hawaii issues a beach advisory that warns people to avoid contact with the ocean water. A total of 20 monitored beaches had a notification action issued during the 2010 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 2010 swimming season, actions were reported less than one 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. The decrease in the number and percentage of beaches affected by actions in 2010 is due to the lack of island-wide rain advisories. 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 2010, nearly 100 percent of the beaches had no known potential sources. 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. 20- 19 (« 15- 1 c o ¦4—1 o < 10- M— o o 2 5- 1 0- 1 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 248 245 146 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 7 245 20 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 3% 100% 14% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions <1% 1% <1% Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by possible pollution sources (146 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 90 100 100 Note: A single beach may have multiple sources. Beach days with no action 53,160 (99.8%) Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 130 (0.2%) ------- |