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EPA's BEACH Report:
Washington 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
Washington for the 2007 swimming season.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the
Washington BEACH Program tests the water for
bacteria at approximately 55 saltwater beaches.
While swimming occurs mainly in summer, other
contact activities such as SCUBA diving, surfing, and
kayaking occur throughout the year. The BEACH
Program's mission is to test the water for bacteria at
the state's public saltwater beaches and notify the
public when bacteria levels indicate a risk of illness
to beach goers. The State Departments of Ecology
and Health manage the program. The sampling and
beach posting is carried out by the cooperative efforts
of county health and surface water programs, tribes,
non-profit organizations, and volunteers.
Bacteria levels at Washington's marine waters are
typically very low with 85% of samples showing
bacteria levels below the detection limit. Beaches that
exceed water quality standards are usually located
in shallow enclosed bays located close to urban
areas and have a stream flowing onto the beach. In
addition to monitoring and notification, the BEACH
Program works to identify beaches with chronic
problems and assist county health departments in
fixing the problems. Washington experienced horrific
flooding during November and December of 2007.
The bad weather resulted in major sewage spills
throughout Puget Sound and it was impossible to
post all the beaches. However, a state-wide warning
was released. The program uses an outreach program
to educate the public about the risks of water born
illnesses and what each of us can do minimize that
risk and improve water quality.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches
by county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
CLALLAM
61
9
52
GRAYS
HARBOR
24
3
21
ISLAND
61
4
57
JEFFERSON
52
3
49
KING
64
10
54
KIITSAP
60
10
50
MASON
41
4
37
PACIFIC
29
1
28
PIERCE
SI
8
47
SAN JUAN
165
0
165
SKAGIT
51
1
50
SNOHOMISH
32
6
26
THURSTON
16
1
15
WHATCOM
32
5
27
TOTALS
743
65
678
Islands
Kitsap
slallam
tlasoi
Figure 1. Washington coastal counties.
San Juan
Pierce
Thurston
Whatcom
Skagit
Snohomish

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Washington'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 8 monitored beaches had at
least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming
season. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of
notification action durations. About 33 percent of
Washington's notification actions lasted two days or
less.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Washington's 2007 swimming season, actions
were reported about 1 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?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Washington's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 85 percent of the beaches
were not investigated for sources of pollution.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.5
1 - 2 Days 3 - 7 Days 8 - 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3: Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
262
(1%)
> 30 Days
Beach days
with no action
7,443
(99%)
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.


2005
2006
2007
For More Information
Number of monitored
beaches
73
80
65
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
6
20
8
For information about beaches in Washington:
www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/beach/
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
8%
25%
12%

Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
3%
4%
3%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (65 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
0
0
0
0
P6
0
0
0
0
12
~ 8
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.

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