U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey

Beach Health: Safe to Swim?

Dr. Shannon Briggs

Michigan Department of Environmental

Quality

June 19, 2009

Lake Michigan near Brevort

We enjoy looking at beautiful beaches …

Head over heelsin love with our water!

We just don’t look at it or drink it, we play in it!

Field Gear for Collecting Samples

SAMPLE BOTTLE

IDENTIFIED MONITORING POINTS

SAMPLING POLE

COOLER WITH WHEELS

TRAINED STAFF

WADERS

ICE PACKS GLOVES, etc

Water samples collected, store on ice, < 6 hour holding time

Give lab 2 hours to prepare samples

Recreational Water Illness Salmonella

C. perfringens

C. botulinum

Campylobacter

enterococci

E. coli

Some of the E. coli Methods approved

by the US EPA

Current methods requires incubation time

m-Tec, 24 to 48 hours

IDEXX Colilert, 24 hours

IDEXX Colilert-18, 18 hours

Some of the enterococci Methods approved

by the US EPA

Current methods requires incubation time

USEPA Method 1600 (mEI agar) 24 hours

IDEXX Enterolert, 24 hours

Example of Posted Sign

Monday, June 15, 2009

WATER WAS BAD YESTERDAY

DON’T KNOW ABOUT TODAY

COME BACK TOMORROW

TOMORROW

WATER WAS BAD AGAIN YESTERDAY

WE STILL DON’T KNOW ABOUT TODAY

WE CAN TELL YOU THAT TOMORROW

THE NEXT DAYIF YOU SWAM YESTERDAY,

YOU’RE OKAY, WATER WAS FINE!

TODAY “MIGHT” BE OKAY TOO

BUT - WE WON’T SAMPLE AGAIN UNTIL NEXT THURSDAY

HAVE A NICE DAY

Water Quality Daily Forecasts

Beach Message Signs

Maintained by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

Courtesy of Calum McPhail, SEPA www.spea.org.uk

Aberdeen beach 3 advisories Excellent, Good, or Poor

Guideline / Mandatory / Fail

Website

Phone line

Phone TEXT

How daily signage is posted

What happens when your beach is closed?

Questions raised due to beach closings:

Why?Who’s responsible?

Public Meeting for Sugar Island Beach

When will it re-open?

McDowell contacted Congressman Bart Stupak

“I just couldn’t believe how bad the situation was.”

Congressman Bart Stupak

Senator Levin’s office set up meeting to include Members of the Canadian Embassy, Senator Stabenow’s office,and Congressman Stupak’s office.

Investing in Beaches = Investing in Community

Time Enjoyment

Expertise Confidence

Efforts Beaches Growth

Research Public Health

Funding Revenue

Collaboration Experience

“Therefore, we strongly encourage you to reconsider the formula used to distribute BEACH Act grants to states.”

“Michigan with 3,224 miles of shoreline and 4.8 million people living near the coast gets less money than American Somoa which has 126 miles of shoreline and 57,291 people living near the coast.”

Great Lakes Success Stories

Lake County HD, IL

Cuyahoga County HD, OH

Milwaukee HD, WI

Indiana Dunes Natl LakeshoreGary Sanitation District, IN

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (37 beaches in Duluth)

Chippewa County HD, MI

Presque Isle St Pk, PA

16 State Parks in NY

City of Racine HD, WI

City of Marquette, MI

Opportunities

USEPA invested $522,824 into

Great Lakes Beach Sanitary Surveys

for 61 beaches

Unknown Sources caused beach closures

Before 84% After 24%

Help us find $8,570 for your local beach

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/sanitarysurvey/

Memorial Day 2008, the GLRC Clean Beaches Initiative… encourages increased use of sanitary survey forms for tracking down sources of pollution causing beach closings and will provide information on other beach monitoring and man management resources through the GLRC Website.

http://www.great-lakes.net/glba/index.html

beachnet@great-lakes.net

Your link to 800 beach buddies!

We transfer our expertise and experience in successful collaborations.

Great Lakes Beach Association

Great Lakes Public Beaches

60239

12

483173

79

191

Good News

Approx 80% of sample results meet water quality standards

Goal is to have a beach open 95% of the season

National average = beaches are open 95% of the time

Approx 68% of the beaches can do this

Bad News, er… an opportunity

National average

32% of beaches were closed in 2007

The Public Demands Action!The Public Demands Action!

Highest Priority Issues for Beach Monitoring in Great Lakes

Predictive Modelsmultiple factors, provides answers now,

potential for regional model (unmonitored areas)

Need sufficient monitoring data (4-5 days/wk)Improve access to data (NOAA, etc)

Need equipment (e.g., monitoring buoys)Need training and technical support

Highest Priority Issues for Beach Monitoring in Great Lakes

Affordable Rapid Testsreduce delay, potential for source tracking

Need to invest in technology

Develop new technology

Modify existing technology

…this is who we work for.