1a\ EPA's BEACH Report:
Hawaii 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 Hawaii for the 2007 swimming
season.
Under the BEACH Act, almost all of Hawaii's
coastal waters are considered "beaches." A
beach can be a cliff, rocky shoreline, or a
sandy stretch of coastline. As long as the
water along the coastline is used for full
contact water recreation, it is considered a
beach.
Hawaii's monitoring program focuses on
intensity of use, as the guide in the selection
of beaches to be monitored and the frequency
of sampling. Hawaii's 444 beaches represents
about 297 miles of coastline, of which 91
miles are monitored. On Oahu, where most
of the State's population resides, 144 beaches
represents about 125 miles of coastline, of
which 55 miles are monitored.
Figure 1. Hawaii coastal counties.
Kauai
Honoiuiu
Maui
Hawaii
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
HAWAII
104
22
82
HONOLULU
144
65
79
KAUAI
73
17
56
MAUI
123
11
112
TOTALS
444
115
329

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Hawaii'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
ocean water. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of
notification action durations. A total of 7 beaches
had at least one advisory issued during the 2007
swimming season. About 25 percent of Hawaii's
notification actions lasted two days or less.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Hawaii's 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported less than 1 percent of the time (Figure 3).
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.

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1
.

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1 ¦
1 - 2 Days 3 - 7 Days 8-30 Days > 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
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 Hawaii's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 100 percent of the
beaches included storm-related runoff as a known	Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.
potential
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Hawaii:
www.hawaii.gov/health/environmental/water/
cleanwater/index.html
Number of monitored
beaches
134
112
115
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
13
16
8
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
10%
14%
7%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
<1%
1%
<1%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (115 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
10 20
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
0
0
0
0
P 3
0
1
0
~ 10
(Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.)
0
P3
0
100
Beach days
with no action
41,859
(>99%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
116
(<1%)

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