EPA's BEACH Report:
New Hampshire 2007 Swimming Season
# Q \
J
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 New
Hampshire for the 2007 swimming season.
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental
Services (DES) began monitoring coastal beaches 1989
and the program continues to provide weekly summer
monitoring. From May 29th through Labor Day of 2007,
309 beach inspections were conducted and 1,147 samples
were collected and analyzed for Enterococci. Only one
beach advisory was posted in 2007, a decrease from six in
2006. New Castle Town Beach, New Castle, was posted for
two days in July.
In addition, a study was conducted to determine bacteria
levels in beach sand and groundwater and their affects
on beach water quality. Preliminary data from the New
Hampshire study show little or no contamination of the
sand or underlying groundwater at the four beaches studied:
Seabrook Town Beach, Sun Valley Beach, State Beach, and
Sawyer Beach. A final report will be available soon.
New Hampshire seacoast surfers formed a local chapter of
the Surfrider Foundation and contacted DES to offer their
services as volunteer monitors. During the off-season,
volunteers conducted 34 inspections at North Beach and
Jenness Beach, collecting 149 samples to be analyzed for
Enterococci. The program is continuing in 2008.
DES continued the cooperative effort with the Blue Ocean
Society for Marine Conservation (Blue Ocean), begun
in April 2005, to clean-up Hampton Beach State Park.
Blue Ocean organizes volunteer groups for each section
to conduct monthly beach clean-ups. DES provides the
volunteers with garbage bags, gloves, scales, and other
supplies. Volunteers tally the weight and number of
trash items collected. In 2007,1,950 pounds of trash were
collected. Cigarette butts were the most numerous item
with 37,661 collected. Volunteers spent a total of 104 hours
participating in these clean-up efforts. The Beach Program
hopes this program will continue for many years to come.
Figure 1. New Hampshire coastal county.
Rockingham
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.

Total

Not
County
Beaches
Monitored
Monitored
ROCKINGHAM
16
16
0
TOTALS
16
16
0

-------
2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
New Hampshire'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. One monitored
beach had one 2-day 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 New Hampshire's 2007 swimming season,
actions were reported less than one 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
Hampshire's monitored beaches potentially
impacted by various pollution sources. In 2007, 50
percent of the beaches had no known potential
sources of pollution.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
1.2
1
in

c

o
0.8
o

<
0.6
o

o
04
z


0.2

0
1 - 2 Days 3 - 7 Days 8 - 30 Days > 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in New Hampshire:
www.des.state.nh.us/Beaches/index.asp
Number of monitored
beaches
16
16
16
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
1
5
1
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
6%
31%
6%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
<1%
2%
<1%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (16 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
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
0
0
0
0
^6
0
0
0
0
^6
0
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
50
Beach days
with no action:
1,470
(99.9%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
2
(0.1%)

-------