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EPA's BEACH Report:
Guam 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 territory of Guam for the 2010 swimming
season.
Figure 1. Guam.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches for
2010.

Total

Not
Island
Beaches
Monitored
Monitored
TOTALS
31
31
0

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2010 Summary Results
How many beaches had notification actions?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Guam requires beach managers to
post an advisory or closure. An advisory warns people
that there is an increased health risk associated with
entering the water and a closure warns people to
completely avoid contact with the water. Twenty-nine
monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued
during the 2010 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a
full breakdown of notification actions.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
In 2010, about 40 percent of Guam's total beach days
were under an advisory (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?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Guam's monitored
beaches possibly affected by various pollution sources.
In 2010, no pollution sources were found at 71 percent
of the beaches.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
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Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3: Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
4,479
(39.6%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010.
Beach days
with no action
6,836
(60.4%)

2008
2009
2010
Number of monitored
beaches
31
31
31
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
31
31
29
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
100%
100%
94%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
44%
41%
40%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (31 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Investigated I 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)
23
55
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
100

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