EPA's BEACH Report:
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Michigan 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 Michigan for the 2007 swimming
season.
Figure 1. Michigan coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
ALCONA
17
1
16
ALGER
25
0
25
ALLEGAN
11
5
6
ALPENA
23
5
18
ANTRIM
28
5
23
ARENAC
32
8
24
BARAGA
24
1
23
BAY
10
5
5
BENZIE
14
1
13
BERRIEN
33
13
20
CHARLEVOIX
19
13
6
CHEBOYGAN
24
4
20
CHIPPEWA
37
6
31
DELTA
55
2
53
EMMET
34
11
23
GOGEBIC
10
1
9
GRAND TRAVERSE
44
5
39
HOUGHTON
24
7
17
HURON
41
12
29
IOSCO
24
8
16
KEWEENAW
28
1
27
LEELANAU
66
3
63
LUCE
17
0
17
MACKINAC
63
2
61
MACOMB
13
4
9
MANISTEE
18
9
9
MARQUETTE
9
5
4
MASON
19
7
12
MENOMINEE
11
2
9
MONROE
13
4
9
MUSKEGON
19
12
7
OCEANA
16
6
10
ONTONAGON
19
2
17
OTTAWA
15
9
6
PRESQUE ISLE
37
4
33
SANILAC
23
4
19
SCHOOLCRAFT
15
1
14
ST. CLAIR
25
14
11
VAN BUREN
8
4
4
WAYNE
7
2
5
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Mason
Oceana
Muskegon
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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Michigan'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 32 monitored beaches
had at least one advisory issued during the 2007
swimming season. About 63 percent of Michigan's
48 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 Michigan's 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported about 3 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?
There are no known sources of pollution for most of
Michigan's monitored beaches (Figure 4).
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Michigan:
www.deq.state.mi.us/beach/public/
default.aspx
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
35 -
30 -
m
I 25 "
o 20 -
<
0	15
1	10 1
30




10





4 4




:
i
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
214
211
208
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
27
42
32
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
13%
20%
15%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
2%
2%
3%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (208 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
1	< 1
0
0
0
0
0
0
] < 1
] 1
l<1
I 14








Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.





I 85
Beach days
with no action
__ 18,644
(97.3%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
526
(2.7%)

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