2007 Swimming Season Update

Features

Pennsylvania

July 2008

Introduction
2007 Summary Results
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Introduction

Figure 1. Pennsylvania coastal counties with 2007 monitored beach data.

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 coast 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 Pennsylvania for the 2007 swimming season.

Table 1. Breakdown of monitored and unmonitored coastal beaches by county.
County	Total Beaches	Monitored	Not Monitored
Erie	14	13	1
Totals	14	13	1

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2007 Summary Results

How many notification actions were reported and how long were they?

Figure 2: Beach notification actions by duration.

Pennsylvania'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 8 monitored beaches had at least one advisory issued during the 2007 swimming season. About 96 percent of Pennsylvania's 27 notification actions lasted two days or less. Figure 2 presents a full breakdown of notification action durations.

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What percentage of days were beaches under a notification action?

Figure 3: Beach days with and without notification actions in 2007.

For Pennsylvania's 2007 swimming season, actions were reported about 2 percent of the time (Figure 3).

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How do 2007 results compare to previous years?

Table 2 compares 2007 notification action data with monitored beach data from previous years.

Table 2. Beach notification actions, 2005–2007.
Year	2005	2006	2007
Number of monitored beaches	12	12	13
Number of beaches affected by notification actions	7	9	8
Percentage of beaches affected by notification actions	58%	75%	61%
Percentage of beach days affected by notification actions	3%	5%	2%

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What pollution sources affect monitored beaches?

Figure 4 displays the percentage of Pennsylvania's monitored beaches potentially affected by various pollution sources. In 2007, all of the beaches included storm-related runoff, wildlife, and unidentified sources as a known potential sources of pollution.