% %, ^tDsrx ££ 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 ------- 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%) ------- |