fQ\ EPA's BEACH Report: Ohio 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 Ohio for the 2007 swimming season. Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2007. Total Not County Beaches Monitored Monitored ASHTABULA 4 4 0 CUYAHOGA 17 17 0 ERIE 21 21 0 LAKE 2 2 0 LORAIN 2 2 0 LUCAS 3 3 0 OTTAWA 6 6 0 TOTALS 55 55 0 Lucas Figure 1. Ohio coastal counties. ke Cuyahoga ------- 2007 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? Ohio'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 water. A total of 37 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification action durations. What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action? For Ohio's 2007 swimming season, actions were reported about 10 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 Ohio's monitored beaches were not identified in 2007 (Figure 4). Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 90 fin Irt ou 70 c 0 60 o < 50 0 40 0 30 z 20 10 0 73 80 . _ _ ¦ 0 1 - 2 Days 3-7 Days 8-30 Days > 30 Days Duration of Actions (days) Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 657 (10%) Beach days with no action 5,663 (90%) For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in Ohio: www.odh.ohio.gov, (614) 466-1390, or l-(866) OHIO BCH Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007. 2005 2006 2007 Number of monitored beaches 47 52 55 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 14 42 37 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 30% 81% 67% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 9% 12% 10% Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (55 beaches). o 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 10 20 30 Percent of beaches 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Note: a single beach may have multiple sources. O I 100 ------- |