&EFA
    United States
    Environmental Protection
    Agency
              EPA's  BEACH  Report:
              Oregon 2011  Swimming  Season
              August 2012
                      EPA820-F-12-021
  Introduction
  The Beaches Environmental Assessment and
  Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000 authorizes
  EPA to provide grants to coastal and Great Lakes
  states, territories, and eligible tribes to monitor
  their coastal beaches for bacteria that indicate the
  possible presence of disease-causing pathogens
  and to notify the public when there is a potential
  risk to public health. The BEACH Act requires that
  recipients of those grants report their coastal beach
  monitoring and notification data to EPA. This fact
  sheet highlights the data submitted to EPA by the
  State of Oregon for the 2011 swimming season.


  2011  Swimming Season
  Monitoring and Notification
  Actions
  Oregon reports 92 coastal beaches located in
  seven counties (Figure 1). Oregon monitored
  26 of those beaches during the 2011 swimming
  season (Table 1). When monitoring results at
  swimming beaches show that levels of specific
  indicator bacteria in the water exceed applicable
  water quality standards, Oregon officials issue a
  beach advisory, warning people of possible risks of
  swimming.

  How many beaches had notification actions?
  In 2011  of the 26 coastal beaches that Oregon
  monitored, 6 (23 percent) had at least one
  notification action (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Oregon coastal counties.
Table 1. Number of monitored and
       unmonitored coastal beaches by
       county for 2011.

County








CLATSOP
COOS
CURRY
DOUGLAS
LANE
LINCOLN
TILLAMOOK
TOTALS
Total
Beaches
9
8
25
1
12
24
13
92

Monitored
5
3
6
1
1
4
6
26
Not
Monitored
4
5
9
0
11
20
7
66

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   Figure 2: Percent of beaches with one or
            more notification actions
   Figure 4: Percent of beach days open
            and safe for swimming
   Figure 3: Duration of beach notification
            actions in 2011
How many notification actions were issued and
how long did they last?
Oregon issued eight notification actions during the
2011 swimming season. Typically Oregon lifts an
action when follow-up monitoring indicates that
water quality complies with applicable standards.
Water quality returned to normal and beaches were
deemed safe for swimming within a week in all
cases (Figure 3).

What percentage of days were beaches under
a notification action?
EPA calculates the total available beach days and
the number of beach days with notification actions
to better track trends over time. Total available
beach days are determined by multiplying the
length of the beach  season by the number of
beaches in the state. For 2011 EPA calculated
                                                        2011

                                                        2010

                                                        2009

                                                        2008

                                                        2007
             • To the Beach \
             • To the Beach \
             MTo the Beach )
99.0%

97.2%

98.2%

98.0%

95.8%
that 2,262 beach days were associated with the
swimming seasons of the 26 monitored Oregon
beaches. Oregon reported notification actions on
22 days, meaning that beaches were open and
safe for swimming about 99 percent of the time.
This improves on the trend of consistently high
percentages of open beach days at state beaches
(Figure 4).


For More Information
For information about the Oregon beach program
contact:
Curtis G. Cude
Oregon Department  of Human Services
Tel: 971-673-0975
e-mail: curtis.g.cude@state.or.us
For general information about beaches visit:
http://water.epa.goy/type/oceb/beaches/.
For information about a specific beach visit:
http://watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/.

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