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EPA's BEACH Report:
Connecticut 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
Connecticut for the 2007 swimming season.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health
collects monitored beach data for 66 marine beaches
located along its shoreline with Long Island Sound.
Local health departments monitor sixty-two (62)
of these beaches. The Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection monitors the remaining four
(4) State Park marine beaches.
Connecticut has adopted a set of beach monitoring
guidelines that are based on US EPA standards for
recreational bathing waters. These guidelines have
been in effect since May 1989. They were revised most
recently in April 2003.
Questions about a municipal beach should be
directed to the shoreline local health department
that monitors it. Questions about a State Park beach
should be directed to the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection.
Figure 1. Connecticut coastal counties.
Middlesex
New London
New Haven
Fairfield
Table 1, Breakdown of monitored and
unmonitored coastal beaches by
county for 2007.
County
Total
Beaches
Monitored
Not
Monitored
FAIRFIELD
28
28
0
MIDDLESEX
5
5
0
NEW HAVEN
19
19
0
NEW LONDON
14
14
0
TOTALS
66
66
0

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2007 Summary Results
How many notification actions were reported and
how long were they?
Connecticut's approach is to issue a beach advisory or
closure when water quality standards are exceeded at a
particular beach to warn people to avoid contact with the
ocean water. A total of 33 monitored beaches had at least
one notification action issued during the 2007 swimming
season. About 91 percent of Connecticut's 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 Connecticut's 2007 swimming season, actions were
reported about 2 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?
Figure 4 displays the percentage of Connecticut's
monitored beaches potentially impacted by various
pollution sources. In 2007, 67 percent of the beaches
included storm-related runoff as a known potential
source. No pollution sources were identified at 11
percent of the beaches.
For More Information
For general information about beaches:
www.epa.gov/beaches/
For information about beaches in Connecticut:
http://www.ct.gov/dph/site/default.asp
Click Programs and Services at the top of the Web page.
Then select Public Beaches.
Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.
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60

1-2	3-7	8-30
Duration of Actions (days)
> 30
Figure 3:
Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005-2007.

2005
2006
2007
Number of monitored
beaches
67
67
66
Number of beaches
affected by notification
actions
28
40
33
Percentage of beaches
affected by notification
actions
42%
60%
50%
Percentage of beach
days affected by
notification actions
3%
3%
2%
Figure 4: Percent of monitored beaches potentially impacted by pollution sources (66 beaches).
0
10
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
0
rzi 6
20
] 18
J 1 4
] 1 2
30
Percent of beaches
40 50 60 70
80 90 100
20
20
ZZI5
~ 18
]11
Note: a single beach may
have multiple sources.
~ 67
Beach days
with no action
__ 6,360
(98.3%)
Beach days with
and without
notification
actions.
Beach days
with an action:
108
(1.7%)

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