q EPA's BEACH Report:
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>***/ South Carolina 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 State of South Carolina for the 2007
swimming season.
The beach program staff in South Carolina
want your input. Please log onto our Web site
and take the survey that is posted. Look at the
site and give us your thoughts.
And, come to South Carolina—beautiful places
and smiling faces await you.
Figure 1. South Carolina coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
BEAUFORT
4
4
0
CHARLESTON
5
5
0
COLLETON
1
1
0
GEORGETOWN
5
5
0
HORRY
8
8
0
TOTALS
23
23
0
Georgetj
leston
aufort

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
South Carolina'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 23 monitored
beaches had at least one advisory issued during
the 2007 swimming season. About 91 percent of
South Carolina's 46 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 South Carolina's 2007 swimming season, actions
were reported about 2 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?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of South Carolina's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 74 percent of the beaches
were listed as having no known sources of pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
Information regarding sample results is available at
the South Carolina DHEC Web site at www.scdhec.
gov, www.earth911.com or by contacting DHEC at
(843) 238-4378.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
42
O 30 -
1 - 2 Days 3-7 Days 8-30 Days > 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
23
23
23
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
8
9
10
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
35%
39%
43%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
8%
8%
2%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (23 beaches).
0 10 20
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
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
\ 74
Beach days
with no action
3,450
~~ (98%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
69
(2%)

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