£ < \ ro X ^OST/>% Q .SB ? EPA's BEACH Report: Northern Mariana Islands 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 territory of the Northern Mariana Islands for the 2010 swimming season. Figure 1. Monitored Northern Mariana Islands. Saipan Tinian Rota Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches for 2010. Island Total Beaches Monitored Not Monitored ROTA 9 9 0 SAIPAN 47 47 0 TINIAN 7 7 0 TOTALS 63 63 0 ------- 2010 Summary Results How many beaches had notification actions? When water quality standards are exceeded at a particular beach, Northern Mariana Islands requires beach managers to post an advisory or closure. An advisory warns people that there is an increased health risk associated with entering the water and a closure warns people to completely avoid contact with the water. All 63 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2010 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification actions. What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action? In 2010, about four percent of Northern Mariana Islands' total beach days were under an advisory (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? Northern Mariana Islands' officials indicate that no sources of pollution were found at monitored beaches. For More Information For general information about beaches: www.epa.gov/beaches/ Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration. 450-| 400- 350- > c 300- o '¦*-> t \ 250- < 200- o 6 150- z 100- 50- 0- 429 "T" "T" 2 3-7 8-30 Duration of Actions (days) >30 Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions. Beach days with an action: 774 (3%) Beach days with no action 26,645 (97%) Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010. 2008 2009 2010 Number of monitored beaches 50 73 63 Number of beaches affected by notification actions 39 61 63 Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions 78% 83% 100% Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions 2% 3% 4% Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches affected by possible pollution sources (63 beaches). Percent of beaches 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Investigated / no sources found 100 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) Note: A single beach may have multiple sources. ------- |