o\ EPA's BEACH Report:
vvTy I
North Carolina 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 North Carolina for 2010.
The North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources' Division
of Environmental Health administers the
Recreational Water Quality Program, which
monitors the coastal waters along North
Carolina. The 320 miles of ocean coastline and
2.2 million acres of estuarine waters consisting
of coastal rivers, bays, and sounds give
residents and visitors many recreational areas
for swimming and water play.
North Carolina's coastal recreational waters
are known for their pristine water quality;
however, frequent monitoring is important to
keep the public informed about any localized
problems that may occur. The Recreational
Water Quality Program monitors 241 sites
along the coast and in 2010 collected
6,238 water samples for recreational waters,
most of them on a weekly basis during the
swimming season, April through October.
North Carolina's ocean beaches rarely have
swimming advisories and in 2010 only nine
out of the 30 swimming areas under advisory
was an ocean beach. The other 21 swimming
areas were located on sounds and rivers where
storm water or the lack of tidal exchange often
contributes to poor water quality.
Figure 1. North Carolina coastal counties.
Currituck
Camden \
Pasquotank\ \
Perquimans^X \ \
Chowan
Bertie
re
sret
New Hanove
Brunswick
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county by 2010.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
BEUFORT
11
11
0
BERTIE
1
1
0
BRUNSWICK
39
39
0
CAMDEN
2
2
0
CARTERET
53
53
0
CHOWAN
1
1
0
CRAVEN
8
8
0
CURRITUCK
9
9
0
DARE
57
57
0
HYDE
5
5
0
NEW HANOVER
21
21
0
ONSLOW
16
16
0
PAMLICO
9
9
0
PASQUOTANK
1
1
0
PENDER
6
6
0
PERQUIMANS
1
1
0
TYRRELL
1
1
0
TOTALS
241
241
0

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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, North Carolina issues a swimming
advisory that warns people to avoid contact with
the recreational water. A total of 30 monitored
beaches had at least one advisory issued during the
2010 swimming season. About 38 percent of North
Carolina's 45 notification actions lasted only one day.
Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification
action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For North Carolina's 2010 swimming season, actions
were reported 1.7 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 North Carolina's
investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by
various pollution sources. In 2010, 66 percent of the
beaches identified storm-related runoff as a possible
source of pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For more information concerning North Carolina's
beaches, please visit:
www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/shellfish/Water Monitoring/
RWOweb/home.htm
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
20 -i
15 -
10 -
18
5
I
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
240
241
241
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
19
24
30
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
8%
10%
12%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
0.3%
0.9%
1.7%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (241 beaches).
Investigated / no sources found
Non-storm related runoff 2
Storm-related runoff
Agricultural runoff o
Boat discharge
Cone, animal feeding operation o
Combined sewer overflow o
Sanitary sewer overflow 3
Publicly-owned treatment works 1
Sewer line leak or break o
Septic system leakage 1
Wildlife
10
9
20 30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
10
66
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
Other (identified) source(s) 2
Unidentified source(s)
23
52
Beach days
with no action
50,723
(98.3%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
851
(1.7%)

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