^tDsrx I Q % I®/ V pro'^ EPA's BEACH Report: California 2007 Swimming Season July 2008 Introduction The BEACH Act of 2000 requires that coastal arid 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 California for the 2007 swimming season. Figure 1, California coastal counties. Del Norte Humboldt Mendocino Sonoma Mann San Francisco San Mateo Santa Cruz Monterey San Luis Obispo Santa Barbara Los Angeles Orange ventur San Diego > Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county for 2007. Total Not County Beaches Monitored Monitored DEL NORTE 12 12 0 HUMBOLT 28 28 0 LOS ANGELES 48 48 0 MARIN 28 28 0 MENDOCINO 20 20 0 MONTEREY 24 24 0 ORANGE 23 23 0 SAN DIEGO 74 74 0 SAN FRANCISCO 7 7 0 SAN LUIS OBISPO 17 17 0 SAN MATEO 41 41 0 SANTA BARBARA 33 33 0 SANTA CRUZ 28 28 0 SONOMA 7 7 0 VENTURA 34 34 0 TOTALS 424 424 0 ------- 2007 Summary Results How many notification actions were reported and how long were they? California'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. A total of 138 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming season. About 34 percent of California's 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 California's 2007 swimming season, actions were reported about 5 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? Sources of pollution impacting California's monitored beaches in 2007 were unidentified (Figure 4). For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ For information about beaches in California visit the Web site: www.waterboards.ca.gov/beachquality/ or contact Michael W. Gjerde, California Beach Coordinator at the State Water Resources Control Board at (916) 341-5283. Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 250 i 200 " 50 " 237 201 116 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: 5,720 (4.5%) Beach days with no action 120,564 (95.5%) Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007. 2005 2006 2007 Number of monitored beaches 426 425 424 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 153 139 138 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 36% 33% 33% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 4% 5% 5% Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (424 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 ------- |