EPA's BEACH Report: vvTy I Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania for the 2007 swimming season. Figure 1. Pennsylvania coastal counties. Erie Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2007. Total Not County Beaches Monitored Monitored ERIE 14 13 1 TOTALS 14 13 1 ------- 2007 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? Pennsylvania's approach is to issue a beach advisory when water quality standards are exceeded at a par- ticular beach that warns people to avoid contact with the water. A total of 8 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming sea- son. About 96 percent of Pennsylvania's 27 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 Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania's monitored beaches potentially impacted by various pollution sources. In 2007, all of the beaches included storm-related runoff, wildlife, and unidentified sources as a known potential sources of pollution. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information regarding sample results for all permitted bathing beaches contact the Erie County Department of Health at (814) 451-6700 or on the web at www.ecdh.org Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. o < 15 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 12 12 13 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 7 9 8 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 58% 75% 61% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 3% 5% 2% Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (13 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. 100 100 100 Beach days with no action 1,283 (98%) Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 30 (2%) ------- |