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EPA's BEACH Report:
Massachusetts 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
Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the 2007
swimming season.
Figure 1. Massachusetts coastal counties.
Norfo k
Bristol
Dukes
Nantucket
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
Total	Not
Beaches Monitored Monitored
County
BARNSTABLE
269
269
0
BRISTOL
30
30
0
DUKES
45
45
0
ESSEX
98
98
0
NANTUCKET
17
17
0
NORFOLK
26
26
0
PLYMOUTH
97
97
0
SUFFOLK
14
14
0
TOTALS
596
596
0

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Massachusetts' 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 134 monitored
beaches had at least one advisory issued during
the 2007 swimming season. About 76 percent of
Massachusetts' 227 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 Massachusetts' 2007 swimming season, actions
were reported about 1 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 Massachusetts'
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 81 percent of the beaches
have not been investigated for pollution sources.
Storm-related runoff was identified as a source for
18 percent of the beaches.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Massachusetts:
www.mass.gov/dph/beaches
or(617) 624-5757
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (596 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
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
160
 140
O 120 1
<
4—
o
6
60






40




¦
12
3
1 - 2 Days 3-7 Days 8-30 Days > 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
780
621
596
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
134
154
134
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
17%
25%
22%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
1%
2%
1%





				








0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
11
0
0

18




Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.





Beach days
with no action
60,593
(98.7%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
795
(1.3%)

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