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EPA's BEACH Report:
California 2010 Swimming Season
May 2011
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
California for the 2010 swimming season.
Figure 1. California coastal counties.
San F
Del Norte
Humboldt
Mendocino
Sonoma
*p™^PContr^Costa
Ian MatelfalHH
Santa Cruz
Monterey
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Los Angeles
Orange
Ventura
San Diego
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
ALAMEDA
1
1
0
CONTRA COSTA
1
1
0
DEL NORTE
12
12
0
HUMBOLT
28
28
0
LOS ANGELES
49
49
0
MARIN
28
28
0
MENDOCINO
21
21
0
MONTEREY
25
25
0
ORANGE
28
28
0
SAN DIEGO
76
76
0
SAN FRANCISCO
7
7
0
SAN LUIS OBISPO
17
17
0
SAN MATEO
41
41
0
SANTA BARBARA
34
34
0
SANTA CRUZ
28
28
0
SONOMA
7
7
0
VENTURA
35
35
0
TOTALS
438
438
0

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2010 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported and
how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, California issues a beach advisory
that warns people to avoid contact with the water.
A total of 138 monitored beaches had at least one
advisory issued during the 2010 swimming season.
Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification
action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For California's 2010 swimming season, actions were
reported about four percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2010 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2010 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in California visit the
website: www.swrcb.ca.gov/water issues/programs/
beaches/beach water qualitv/index.shtml or contact
Michael W. Gjerde, California Beach Coordinator at
the State Water Resources Control Board at
(916) 341-5283.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
1	2	3-7	8-30	> 30
Duration of Actions fdavs)
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010.

2008
2009
2010
Number of monitored
beaches
433
434
438
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
139
173
138
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
32%
40%
32%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
6%
6%
4%
Beach days
with no action
136,092
(95.6%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
6,282
(4.4%)

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