o\ EPA's BEACH Report:
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Oregon 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
Oregon for the 2010 swimming season.
Between May and September each year, the Oregon
Beach Monitoring Program (OBMP) helps protect
people who play in coastal waters that are designated
for swimming, bathing, surfing and similar water
contact activities.
During the 2010 swimming season, the OBMP
monitored 81 sampling sites at 26 recreational beaches
along the Oregon coast. Ocean water is sampled either
once a week or every two weeks. The beach program
works with other state agencies to collect and test
water samples, and when bacteria levels exceed the
state standard of 158 enterococci organisms per lOOmL
of ocean water sampled, a water contact advisory is
issued.
Oregon uses various methods to notify the public
about water contact advisories, including media
releases, phone calls to city and county officials,
email notification to local governments and interested
stakeholders, statewide advisory hotline, signage at
beach access points, and posting information on the
program website at www.healthoregon.org/beach.
Figure 1. Oregon coastal counties.
Clatsop
Tillamook
Lincoln
Lane
Coosi Douglas
Cu
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
CLATSOP
9
5
4
COOS
8
3
5
CURRY
25
6
9
DOUGLAS
1
1
0
LANE
11
1
10
LINCOLN
24
4
20
TILLAMOOK
13
6
7
TOTALS
91
26
65
The OBMP works with the Oregon Coastal Atlas to
share and display beach water quality monitoring
data on the Web. The Atlas is a collaborative project
of the Oregon Ocean-Coastal Management Program,
and is considered one of the nation's most useful and
comprehensive information sources about a state
shoreline. To view recent and historic beach sampling
data at the Atlas, visit www.coastalatlas .net/learn/
topics/waterquality/beach.

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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, Oregon issues a beach advisory that
warns people to avoid contact with the ocean water.
A total of eight monitored beaches had at least one
advisory issued during the 2010 swimming season.
Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification
action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Oregon's 2010 swimming season, actions were
reported about three 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 Oregon's
investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by
various pollution sources.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information on Oregon's monitored beaches and
sampling results visit
www.healthoregon.org/beach. or
contact (971) 673-0431.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
2	3-7	8-30	> 30
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2008-2010.

2008
2009
2010
Number of monitored
beaches
26
24
26
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
10
4
8
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
38%
17%
31%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
2%
2%
3%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (6 beaches).
Percent of beaches
0 1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
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)
0









33
0
0
0
0
1
7

Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.





33
0
0
0



83
0
0








Beach days
with no action
2,375
(97.2%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
69
(2.8%)

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