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EPA's BEACH Report:
Minnesota 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 Minnesota for the 2010 swimming
season.
Going to "The Lake" is one of the most popular
summer activities along Minnesota's Lake
Superior coastline. Whether visitors go to the
beach to kayak, swim, surf, or look for agates,
water quality can have a significant impact on a
beachgoer's experience.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day
each year, Minnesota conducts a program
for monitoring the bacteria content of the
recreational waters along the Minnesota Lake
Superior shoreline that are publicly owned.
A partnership effort between Minnesota's
Pollution Control Agency, Department of
Natural Resources, county health departments
and private/public organizations in the region
provides the citizens of Minnesota with specific
and timely information regarding water quality
conditions. Water is collected from each beach
at least once per week during the season.
Samples are analyzed for E. coli content and the
results are made available to the public.
Minnesota has partnered with the Natural
Resources Research Institute to develop the
www.MNBeaches.org website. The website
allows the public access to real time data and
advisory information for all of Minnesota's
Lake Superior beaches. It also allows the public
to sign up to receive e-mail notification of
advisories for beaches of their choice.
Figure 1. Minnesota coastal counties.
Cook
Louis
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
COOK
22
11
11
LAKE
23
11
12
SI LOUIS
34
17
17
TOTALS
79
39
40

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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, Minnesota issues a beach advisory
that warns people to avoid contact with the water.
A total of seven 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 Minnesota's 2010 swimming season, actions were
reported about one 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 Minnesota's
investigated monitored beaches possibly affected by
various pollution sources. In 2010, all of the beaches
where sources were investigated included storm- and
nonstorm-related runoff, wildlife, and unidentified
sources as possible sources of pollution.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For more information regarding sample results
for all monitored beaches in Minnesota go to
www.MNBeaches .org or contact the MPCA at
(218) 725-7724. You can also call the
Agency's toll-free information line,
l-(800) 657-3864.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.

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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
40
39
39
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
13
15
7
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
32%
38%
18%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
5%
2%
1%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (38 beaches).
0 10 20
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
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)
16
24
24
26
26
13
26
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
71
11
100
100
100
100
Beach days
with no action
_ 4,476
(98.9%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
48
(1.1%)

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