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EPA's BEACH Report:
Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin for the 2007 swimming
season.
Figure 1. Wisconsin coastal counties.
Marinette
Oconto
Kewa
Brown
Manitowoc
Sheboygan
Ozaukee
Milwaukee
Racine
Door
inee
Kenosha
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.

Total
Not
County
Beaches
Monitored Monitored
ASHLAND
7
7
0
BAYFIELD
19
16
3
BROWN
9
3
6
DOOR
53
31
22
DOUGLAS
16
12
4
IRON
5
5
0
KENOSHA
7
5
2
KEWAUNEE
5
2
3
MANITOWOC
17
10
7
MARINETTE
6
0
6
MILWAUKEE
13
11
2
OCONTO
1
0
1
OZAUKEE
11
6
5
RACINE
7
2
5
SHEBOYGAN
16
8
8
TOTALS
192
118
74

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported and
how long were they?
Wisconsin's appoach 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 85 monitored beaches
had at least one advisory issued during the 2007
swimming season. About 88 percent of Wisconsin's
594 notification actions lasted two days or less. Figure
2 pesents a full breakcbwn of notification action
durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Wisconsin's 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported about 7 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 pevious years.
What pollution sources impact monitored
beaches?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Wisconsin's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 72 percent of the beaches
reported that their potential sources were unidentified
Storm-related runoff was listed as a potential source of
pollution at 22 percent of the beaches.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Wisconsin:
www.wibeaches.us
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
600
(n
c
o
'¦*->
o
<
500 -
400 -
300 -
100
524





.



	

3
0
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
115
117
118
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
82
83
85
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
71%
71%
72%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
11%
11%
7%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (118 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
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
0
¦	5
12
0
11
¦	4
0
0
0
~ 22
~ 16
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
~ 72
Beach days
with no action
11,887
(93.3%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
857
(6.7%)

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