^6Dsrx I o % uSB/ EPA's BEACH Report: Virginia 2007 Swimming Season July 2008 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 Commonwealth of Virginia for the 2007 swimming season. Figure 1. Virginia coastal counties. / Mathews Gloucester York Newport News Hampton Norfo Ik Accomack Northampton Virginia Beach Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2007. Total Not County Beaches Monitored Monitored ACCOMACK 2 2 0 GLOUCESTER 1 1 0 HAMPTON 2 2 0 KING GEORGE 1 1 0 MATHEWS 1 1 0 NEWPORT NEWS 4 4 0 NORFOLK 9 9 0 NORTHAMPTON 2 2 0 VIRGINIA BEACH 24 24 0 YORK 1 1 0 TOTALS 47 47 0 ------- 2007 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? Virginia's approach is to issue a beach advisory when water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach that warns people to avoid contact with the ocean water. A total of 8 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming season. About 36 percent of Virginia's 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 Virginia's 2007 swimming season, actions were reported about 1 percent of the time (Figure 3). How do 2007 results compare to previous years? Table 2 compares 2007 notification action data with monitored beach data from previous years. What pollution sources impact monitored beaches? Sources of pollution impacting Virginia's monitored beaches were not identified in 2007 (Figure 4). For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in Virginia: www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/DZEE/ BeachMonitoring/ Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 1 - 2 Days 3 - 7 Days 8 - 30 Days Duration of Actions (days) > 30 Days Figure 3: Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007. 2005 2006 2007 Number of monitored beaches 49 47 47 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 8 4 8 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 16% 9% 17% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 1% 1% 1% Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (47 beaches). 0 Pollution sources not investigated Agricultural runoff Boat discharge Cone, animal feeding operation Publicly-owned treatment works Non-storm related runoff Septic system leakage Sewer line leak or break Sanitary/Combined sewer overflow Storm-related runoff Wildlife Other and/or unidentified sources No known pollution sources Percent of beaches 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00 Note: a single beach may have multiple sources. 100 Beach days with no action 7,128 (99%) Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 63 (1%) ------- |