EPA's BEACH Report:
Massachusetts 2010 Swimming Season
May 2011
Introduction
The BEACIT 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
Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the 2010
swimming season.
Figure 1. Massachusetts coastal counties.
Suffolk
Norfolk
Bristol
Dukes
Nantucket
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2010.
Total	Not
County	Beaches Monitored Monitored
BARNSTABLE
269
269
0
BRISTOL
44
44
0
DUKES
52
52
0
ESSEX
88
88
0
NANTUCKET
18
18
0
NORFOLK
24
24
0
PLYMOUTH
86
86
0
SUFFOLK
24
24
0
TOTALS
605
605
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, Massachusetts issues a beach
advisory that warns people to avoid contact with
the water. A total of 217 monitored beaches had at
least one advisory issued during the 2010 swimming
season. About 77 percent of Massachusetts' 511
notification actions lasted two days or less. Figure
2 presents a full breakdown of notification action
durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Massachusetts' 2010 swimming season, actions
were reported about two 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 Massachusetts'
investigated monitored beaches possibly impacted
by various pollution sources. In 2010, 88 percent of
beaches investigated for possible pollution sources
listed storm-related runoff as a possible pollution
source.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in
Massachusetts:
www.mass.gov/dph/topics/beaches.htm
or(617) 624-5757
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.

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250
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200
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85
26


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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
604
603
605
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
186
240
217
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
31%
40%
36%
Percentage of beach days
affected by notification
actions
2%
3%
2%
Figure 4: Percent of investigated monitored beaches
affected by possible pollution sources (50 beaches).
0
10 20
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
Investigated I no sources found	o
Non-storm related runoff	o
Storm-related runoff
Agricultural runoff	o
Boat discharge	o
Cone, animal feeding operation	o
Combined sewer overflow	12
Sanitary sewer overflow	o
Publicly-owned treatment works	o
Sewer line leak or break	o
Septic system leakage	o
Wildlife
Other (identified) source(s)	o
Unidentified source(s)	o
10
Note: A single beach may
have multiple sources.
Beach days
with no action
_ 62,626
(97.7%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
under an
action:
1,504
(2.3%)

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