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EPA's BEACH Report:
Minnesota 2007 Swimming Season
July 2008
Introduction
The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal
arid 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 Minnesota for the 2007 swimming
season.
Going to "The Lake" is one of the most popular
summer activities along Minnesota's Lake
Superior coastline. Whether visitors go to the
beach to kayak, swim, surf, or look for agates,
water quality can have a significant impact on a
beach-goers experience.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year,
Minnesota conducts a program for monitoring
the bacteria content of the recreational waters
along the Minnesota Lake Superior shoreline
that are publicly owned. A partnership effort
between Minnesota's Pollution Control Agency,
Department of Natural Resources, county health
departments and private/public organizations
in the region provides the citizens of Minnesota
with specific and timely information regarding
water quality conditions. Water is collected from
each beach at least once per week during the
season. Samples are analyzed for E. coli content
and the results are made available to the public.
Minnesota has partnered with the Natural
Resources Research Institute to develop the
www.MNBeaches.org website. The website
allows the public access to real time data and
advisory information for all of Minnesota's Lake
Superior beaches. It also allows the public to sign
up to receive e-mail notification of advisories for
beaches of their choice.
Figure 1. Minnesota coastal counties.
Cook
Louis
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
COOK
22
11
11
LAKE
23
11
12
ST LOUIS
34
17
17
TOTALS
79
39
40

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Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
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18
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1 —
2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported and
how long were they?
Minnesota'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 18 monitored beaches had at
least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming
season. About 55 percent of Minnesota's 33 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 Minnesota'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 Minnesota's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, all of the beaches where
sources were investigated included storm- and
nonstorm-related runoff, wildlife, and other/
unidentified as potential sources of pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For more information regarding sample results for
all monitored beaches in Minnesota go to www.
MNBeaches.org or contact the MPCA at (218)
725-7724. You can also call the Agency's toll-free
information line, l-(800) 657-3864.
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (39 beaches).
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:
204
(4.2%)
Beach days
with no action
4,668
(95.8%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
39
39
39
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
12
9
18
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
31%
23%
46%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
7%
6%
4%
0 10 20
30
Percent of beaches
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
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
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