a ^£DS7"^ A EPA's BEACH Report: New York 2007 Swimming Season July 2008 Introduction The BEACIT 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 New York for the 2007 swimming season. Each summer, New York monitors bacteriological indicator levels at bathing beaches along Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean as part of EPA's BEACH Grant Program. Indicator bacteria are used to detect pollution sources, such as sewage or stormwater runoff that could affect water quality at a beach. The New York State Department of Health contracts with local health departments, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to provide up-to-date information regarding beach water quality conditions to the public. In 2007, 9,379 beach water samples were collected from the State's 353 monitored beaches and analyzed for E. coli (freshwater beaches) or Enterococcus (marine beaches). Sample analysis and local predictive models resulted in 803 instances of beach closures or advisory postings to protect the public from swimming in potentially contaminated water. Public notification occurs if a sample exceeds the threshold of 235 E. coli colonies per lOOmL or 104 Enterococcus colonies per lOOmL of water. New York's beach water quality is generally excellent; in 2007 the State's coastal beaches were open 96% of the time. Figure 1. New York coastal counties. Jefferson Monroe Wayne Oswego Cayuga agara Chautauqua vveslchester Bronx Kings Richmond Queens Nassau Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored beaches by county for 2007. County Total Beaches Monitored Not Monitored BRONX 10 8 2 CAYUGA 1 1 0 CHAUTAUQUA 9 9 0 ERIE 10 10 0 JEFFERSON 3 3 0 KINGS 11 11 0 MONROE 4 4 0 NASSAU 65 65 0 NIAGARA 2 2 0 OSWEGO 7 7 0 QUEENS 11 11 0 RICHMOND 3 3 0 SUFFOLK 201 194 7 WAYNE 3 3 0 WESTCHESTER 25 22 3 TOTALS 365 353 12* * I hese beaches were not in operation in 2007. ------- 2007 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? New York'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 141 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming season. About 84 percent of New York's 803 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 New York's 2007 swimming season, actions were reported about 4 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 New York's monitored beaches potentially impacted by various pollution sources. In 2007, 53 percent of the beaches included storm-related runoff as a known potential source. No known pollution sources were identified at 42 percent of the beaches. For More Information For general information about beaches: http://www.epa.gov/beaches/ Figure 800 - 700 - in 600 - c o 500 - o < 400 - o Q 300 - z 200 - 100 - o - 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 678 108 16 1 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 347 354 353 Number of beaches affected by advisories or closings 106 132 141 Percentage of beaches affected by advisories or closings 31% 37% 40% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 3% 4% 4% Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (353 beaches). Percent of beaches 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 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 ~ 1 Note: a single beach may have multiple sources. I 53 ] 42 Beach days with no action - 35,531 (96%) Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 1,534 (4%) ------- |