^tosrx
* H v0
V„,o>°
EPA's BEACH Report:
Illinois 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 Illinois for the 2007 swimming season.
Figure 1. Illinois coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
COOK
51
39
12
LAKE
18
12
6
TOTALS
69
51
18
Lake
Cook

-------
2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Illinois' 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 49 monitored beaches had at least
one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming
season. About 88 percent of Illinois' 517 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 Illinois' 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported about 17 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?
Potential sources of pollution impacting Illinois'
monitored beaches in 2007 are unknown (Figure 4).
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
500
450
« 400
§ 350
^ 300
< 250
O 200
o 150
100
50
0
457





55



	

4
1
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:
846
(16.6%)
Beach days
with no action
4,254
(83.4%)
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Illinois:
www.earth911.org/waterquality/
default.asp?cluster=17
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
73
67
51
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
49
54
49
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
67%
81%
96%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
10%
12%
17%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (51 beaches).
0
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
Percent of beaches
1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
100

-------