q EPA's BEACH Report: Alaska 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 Alaska for the 2007 swimming season. Figure 1. Alaska coastal communities. £> Juneau Dillingham Naknek Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by community for 2007. Community Total Beaches Monitored Not Monitored NAKNEK 1 1 0 DILLINGHAM 1 1 0 JUNEAU 1 1 G TOTALS 3 3 0 ------- 2007 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? Alaska'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. None of the 3 monitored beaches had an advisory issued during the 2007 swimming season. What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action? No actions were reported during Alaska's 2007 swimming season (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 Alaska's monitored beaches potentially impacted by various pollution sources. In 2007, 2 out of 3 of their beaches reported no known sources of pollution. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in Alaska: www.dec.state.ak.us/water/wqsar/wqs/ beachprogram.htm Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 10 - 9 - 8 - g 7- ° 6 - 3 5- o 4- o 3 - Z 2 - 1" 0 0 0 0 0 -I 1 1 1 1 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 Number of beaches affected by notification 2 0 0 actions Percentage of beaches affected by notification 100% o% o% actions Percentage of beach days affected by 39% o% o% notification actions Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (3 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. ~ 33 ~ 33 ~ 6 Beach days with an action Beach days with no action 270 (100%) Beach days with and without notification actions. ------- |