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EPA's BEACH Report:
Delaware 2010 Swimming Season
May 2011
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 Delaware for the 2010 swimming
season.
Figure 1. Delaware coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.

Total

Not
County
Beaches
Monitored
Monitored
SUSSEX
21
n
0
TOTALS
21
21
0

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2010 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
When water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach, Delaware issues a beach advisory
that warns people to avoid contact with the water.
Three monitored beaches had an advisory issued
during the 2010 swimming season. Figure 2
presents a full breakdown of notification action
durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Delaware's 2010 swimming season, actions were
reported 1.7 percent of the time (Figure 3).
How do 2010 results compare to previous years?
Table 2 compares 2010 notification action data with
monitored beach data from previous years.
What pollution sources possibly affect
investigated monitored beaches?
Figure 4 displays possible sources of pollution
affecting Delaware's Bay beaches. In 2010, no
sources were found at 76% of the beaches.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Delaware:
http://apps.dnrec.state.de.us/RecWater/
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
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9-
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2	3-7 8-30 >30
Duration of Actions (Days)
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010.

2008
2009
2010
Number of monitored
beaches
21
21
21
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
2
5
3
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
9%
24%
14%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
< 1%
4%
2%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (5 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
Investigated / no sources found
Non-storm related runoff
Storm-related runoff
Agricultural runoff
Boat discharge
Cone, animal feeding operation
Combined sewer overflow
Sanitary sewer overflow
Publicly-owned treatment works
Sewer line leak or break
Septic system leakage
Wildlife
Other (identified) source(s)
Unidentified source(s)
76
24
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
Beach days
with no action
3,036
(98.3%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
51
(1.7%)

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