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EPA's BEACH Report:
Rhode Island 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
Rhode Island for the 2010 swimming season.
Rhode Island is known for its beautiful beaches
and coastline. Ensuring that its beaches are safe for
swimming is a priority both to ensure the health of
our residents and to support Rhode Island's valuable
tourism industry.
The Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH)
is responsible for the licensing and regulation of
bathing beach facilities in the State of Rhode Island.
The HEALTH Beach Program's mission is to protect
the public from illness associated with swimming
in contaminated bathing waters. This includes
both fresh and saltwater beaches. Funding for the
Beach Program is provided by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). These
funds support primary Beach Program activities
which include: sanitary surveys, development and
implementation of a risk-based monitoring plan,
public Notification Plan, and bacteriological testing
at marine beaches. Currently, freshwater beach
managers are responsible for sampling and following
HEALTH approved regulations.
All licensed beaches are required to monitor the water
quality to ensure bacteria levels meet state and federal
standards. Currently, HEALTH'S Beach Program
maintains a rigorous water sampling schedule from
Memorial Day to Labor Day. Water samples are
collected by HEALTH and analyzed for enterococci
bacteria (an indicator organism used to detect the
presence of fecal matter in the water column) based
on standards set by the Rhode Island Department
of Environmental Management (DEM) and USEPA.
The Beach Program also assists beach owners and
managers with finding and eliminating sources of
contamination that pollute Rhode Island beaches.
Figure 1. Rhode Island coastal counties.
Providence
Washington
Newport
71
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
BRISTOL
20
4
16
KENT
16
4
12
NEWPORT
86
18
68
PROVIDENCE
8
0
8
WASHINGTON
100
46
54
TOTALS
230
72
158

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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, Rhode Island issues a beach
advisory that warns people to avoid contact with
the water. A total of 19 monitored beaches had at
least one advisory issued during the 2010 swimming
season. About 89 percent of Rhode Island's 45
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 Rhode Island's 2010 swimming season, actions
were reported one 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 the percentage of Rhode Island's
investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by
various pollution sources. In 2010, 92 percent of the
beaches were listed as having unidentified sources of
pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Rhode Island:
www.ribeaches.org/index.cfm
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by
possible pollution sources (72 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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)
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
28
o
O 10-
2	3-7 8-30
Duration of Actions (Days)
>30
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010.

2008
2009
2010
Number of monitored
beaches
74
68
72
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
18
21
19
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
24%
31%
26%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
2%
3%
1%
o
¦	3
0
0
0
¦	3
¦	3
0
0
0
1
0
18
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
92
Beach days
with no action
7,057
(99%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
71
(1%)

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