Great Lakes Beach Monitoring in Wisconsin

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Great Lakes Beach Monitoringin Wisconsin

• Toni Glymph
• Water Quality Standards Specialist
• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

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Beach Monitoring in Wisconsin

• Prior to 2003
• No consistently implemented beach monitoring
  program
• BEACH Act
• Secure funding
• Convene BEACH Act Workgroup
• Develop Beach Monitoring Public Notification
  program.

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Beach Monitoring in Wisconsin
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification

• Identify beaches
• Evaluate beaches
• Rank classify beaches
• Develop monitoring plan
• Develop public notification plan

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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
What is a Beach?
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification

• Beach Definition
• For the purpose of the BEACH Act, a beach shall
  be defined as a publicly owned shoreline or land
  area, not contained in a man-made structure,
  located on the shore of Lake Michigan or Lake
  Superior, that is used for swimming, recreational
  bathing or other water contact recreational
  activity.

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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
Where are the beaches?
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
1 km
2 km
3 km
4 km
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
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Beach Monitoring Public Notification

• Tiered Monitoring Plan
• 132 sites tested regularly
• Uniform sampling analytical procedures
• Standard advisory notification signs
• Spanish Hmong
• Beach-health website database
• Telephone hot-line
• Brochures

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Beach Monitoring Public Notification
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Priorities Concerns

• Continued funding
• Education
• Source identification reduction
• Improving the science
• Increased confidence in decision making

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The Role of State Policy

• Funding
• Un-funded Mandate
• VS
• Funded Recommendation
• (100 participation)

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The Role of State Policy

• Education
• Brochures
• Media Partnering
• Bi-weekly News and Outdoor Report
• Bi-monthly Wisconsin Natural Resource magazine
• Quarterly Environmental Education in Wisconsin
  newsletter for teachers
• Eek Educational website for kids

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The Role of State Policy

• Source Identification Reduction
• Stormwater regulations
• Agricultural runoff
• Point source controls

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Improving the Science

• Near time testing methods
• Multiple samples
• Predictive models
• Improved pathogen detection
• Indicators for non-enteric pathogens
• Human exposure factors

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Improving the Science
Wow. Youre right. A stitch in time only saves
8.76!