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EPA's BEACH Report:
Delaware 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 Delaware for the 2007 swimming
season.
Figure 1. Delaware coastal counties.
Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.

Total

Not
County
Beaches
Monitored
Monitored
I SUSSEX
21
n
0
TOTALS
21
21
0

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported
and how long were they?
Delaware'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 2 monitored
beaches had at least one advisory issued during the
2007 swimming season. Figure 2 presents a full
breakdown of notification action durations.
What percentage of days were beaches under a
notification action?
For Delaware's 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported about 0.4 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?
Delaware reports that there are no known sources
of pollution impacting their monitored beaches
(Figure 4).
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
3 i
c 2
o
<
1 "
1 - 2 Days
3 - 7 Days 8 - 30 Days > 30 Days
Duration of Actions (days)
Figure 3:
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Delaware:
www.dnrec.state.de.us/dnreceis/DIV_Water/Apps/
RecWater/ASP/RecWaterPublic.asp
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
9
22
21
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
0
0
2
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
0%
0%
10%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
0%
0%
<1%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (21 beaches).
0
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
Percent of beaches
1 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1 00
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
100
Beach days
with no action
2,657
(99.6%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
10
(0.4%)

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