AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Rae T. Benedict for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Health Management presented on June 10. 2003. Title: Evaluating Oregon's Beach Sites and Assessing Twenty-Six Coastal Beach Areas for Recreational Water quality Standards. Redacted for privacy Abstract approved: Catherine M. Neumann With congressional passage of the BEACH Act in October of 2000, Coastal and Great Lakes states were mandated to assess coastal recreation waters for the application of ambient water quality standards. This research encompasses two components involved in applying the BEACH Act statues to Oregon. The first component was to select beach sites in Oregon. The second component involves applying bacterial recreational water standards to select Oregon beaches. Using the guidelines provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this study develops a method to appraise Oregon marine recreational waters taking into account the following factors: use, available information, pollution threats, sanitary surveys, monitoring data, exposure considerations, economics, and development. In an effort to protect the public from swimming-associated illness attributable to microbial pollution, 24 beaches were identified in Oregon. Of these, 19 beaches were classified as tier 1, or high priority, and five sites were classifiedas medium priority, or tier 2. Future studies should be directed at ascertaining the beach lengths utilized by Oregon marine recreators since this is an important parameter in targeting bacterial monitoring. Ongoing monitoring of these 24 sites is warranted and new information could be used to update beach tier levels in Oregon. In the second phase of this study, bacterial monitoring data was used for comparison to recreational water quality standards. In October of 2002, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) sampled 26 beaches for enterococci andEscherichia coli (E. coli)densities. Of the water sampled from all 26 beach sites, nine exceeded s single sample maximum density of 104 enterococci colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliLiters (mL). The Oregon beach with the highest exceedance occurred at Otter Rock's South Cove where the enterococci concentration was 4352 most probable number (MPN)/100 mL. A comparison of the 26 sampled beaches to ODEQ's estuarineE. colistandard of 406 organisms/100 mL resulted in two beaches with exceedances. Otter Rock at South Cove had the highest E. coliconcentration at 1850 IVIPN/100 mL. Based on the limited data used in this study, should Oregon adopt the enterococci standard in lieu of the current ODEQ estuarineE. colistandard, more beaches will have exceedances of the recreational water standard. Additional bacterial monitoring is warranted to further characterize the nature and extent of the problem in Oregon. To protect the health of the marine recreating public, future Oregon marine water quality studies should delineate the "no swim" zone around creeks and model the impacts of rainfall on beach sites. © Copyright by Rae T. Benedict June 10, 2003 All Rights Reserved Evaluating Oregon's Beach Sites and Assessing Twenty-Six Coastal Beach Areas for Recreational Water Quality Standards by Rae T. Benedict A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Presented June 10, 2003 Commencement June 2004 Master of Science thesis of Rae T. Benedict presented on June 10, 2003. APPROVED: Redacted for privacy Major Professor, representing Environmental Health Management Redacted for privacy Chair of the Department of Public Redacted for privacy Dean of the d'ttat'e School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. Redacted for privacy Rae T. Benedict, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses sincere appreciation to the Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Section, as well as, the Oregon Department of Human Services, Environmental Services and Consultation Section. Special thanks to Who provided Dr Catherine Neumann, Oregon State Univ Applied research Mark Meyers, Oregon State Univ ArcView assistance Tanya Haddad, Oregon Land Conservation and Dev ArcView assistance Larry Caton, Oregon DEQ Ongoing data Oregon Department of Recreation Coastal Managers Information Kamie Carney, Florida Dept of Health State criteria Dana Solum, Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Services State criteria Lynn Schneider, Washington State Dept of Ecology State criteria Alaska Graduate funding & State criteria Ken Kauffman, Retired, Oregon DHS Assistance & Support This investigation was supported by an EPA Beach Grant awarded to Oregon Department of Human Services, Environmental Services Section. TABLE OF CONTENTS Pagç CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION____________________1 1.1 EVENTS PRECEDING FEDERAL WATER LEGISLATION___________1 1.2 HISTORY OF PUBLIC HEALTH LEGISLATION PERTAINING TO WATER 3 1.3 RECREATIONAL WATER QUALITY CRITERIA BASED ON PRE-1986 BACTERIA STUDIES 4 1.4 BEACH RELATED STUDIES SINCE ADOPTION OF THE 1986 AMBIENT WATER QUALITY CRITERIA 6 1.5 PURPOSE OF RESEARCH 9 CHAPTER 2: EVALUATING OREGON'S BEACH SITES FOR APPLICATION TO UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S BEACH ACT CRITERIA 11 2.2INTRODUCTION___________________________________11 2.3METHODS 13 2.3.1 Use 17 2.3.2 Available Information 21 2.3.3 Pollution Threats 22 2.3.4 Sanitary Survey 24 2.3.5 Monitoring Data_____________________________________26 2.3.6 Exposure Considerations 28 2.3.7 Other Factors 28 2.3.8 Ranks and Tiers 29 2.4RESULTS 30 2.4.1 Use 30 2.4.2 Available Information 30 2.4.3 Pollution Threats 31 2.4.4 Sanitary Survey 32 2.4.5 Monitoring Data_______________________________________34 2.4.6 Exposure Considerations 35 2.4.7 Other Factors 37 2.4.8 Ranks and Tiers 37 2.5 DISCUSSION 43 2.5.1 Seasonal Listing of Sites 43 2.5.2 Density and Use of Oregon's Recreational Waters 43 2.5.3 Monitoring DataFecal Coliform Conversion to E. coli 44 2.5.4 Other Factors 46 2.5.5 Pollution Sources and Sanitary Surveys 46 TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Page 2.5.6 Comparing Oregon's Beach Selection Criteria with Other States_ 47 2.5.7 Tiers Revisited 49 2.5.8 Oregon 2003 Beach Information 50 2.6REFERENCES 54 CHAPTER 3: ASSESSING OREGON'S TWENTY-SIX COASTAL BEACH AREAS FOR RECREATIONAL WATER QUALITY STANDARDS______ 58 3.2INTRODUCTION 59 3.3 METHODS 64 3.4RESULTS 68 3.4.1 E.coli Results 70 3.4.2 Enterococci Results 71 3.4.3 Indicator Comparison to Regulatory Action 73 3.5DISCUSSION 73 3.5.1 Creeks Transporting Bacterial Pollution 74 3.5.2 Rainfall Effects on Bacterial Concentrations___________________74 3.5.3 Proximity to Sewage Treatment Plants and Other Point Sources 76 3.5.4 Storage Effects on Bacterial Samples 77 3.5.5 Enterolert Analysis______________________________________77 3.5.6 E. coliversus Enterococci 78 3.5.7 Regulatory Action Results Compared with Other Studies_______80 3.5.8 Oregon Department of Agriculture Monitoring_______________80 3.6CONCLUSION 81 3.7RECOMMENDATIONS 82 3.8 REFERENCES 84 CHAPTER 4: GENERAL CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY 91 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Diagram of Arch Cape STP Hydro-code 17 2.2 Map of Newport Beach Sites Potentially Impacted by STP 2.3 Map of Oregon Tiered Beaches in Clatsop, Tillamook & Lincoln Counties 41 2.4 Map of Oregon Tiered Beaches in Lane, Douglas, Coos & Cuny Counties 42 3.1 Map of Sample Points Along Cannon Beach, Oregon 3.2 Map of Oregon Sampled Beaches by Tier Levels 67 3.3 Map of Oregon Beach Sites with E. coli and Enterococci Exceedances 72 3.4 Picture of Otter Rock at South Cove Headland 75 LIST OF TABLES Table ige 2.1 Information Used in Site Selection 15 2.2 Coastal County Sanitarian Survey 18 2.3 Oregon Beaches by Exposure and Activity 31 2.4 Oregon STP Pollution Threats with Hydro-code and Potentially Impacted Beaches 33 2.5 Monitoring Data Exceeding ODEQ Estuarine Standard__________________ 35 2.6 Oregon Beaches by Total Score, Final Rank & Tier Level 38 2.7 Comparison of Oregon Beach Tiers 51 3.1 1986 Water Quality Criteria for Bacterial Densities 61 3.2 Bacterial Densities in Oregon Beach Waters Sampled in October 2002 68 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS cfu- colony forming units E. coli- Escherichia coli EPA- Environmental Protection Agency LDC- Oregon Land Conservation and Development Mem- Memorial mL- milliliter Mtn- Mountain ODA- Oregon Department of Agriculture ODEQ- Oregon Department of Environmental Quality ODHS- Oregon Department of Human Services OPR- Oregon Parks and Recreation Department OSRUS- Oregon Shore Recreational Use Study Pk- Park Quad- quadrangle Rec- Recreational St- State STP(s) Sewage Treatment Plant (s) TMDL- Total Maximum Daily Loads USD01 United States Department of Interior USEPA- Environmental Protection Agency USGS United States Geological Survey EVALUATING OREGON'S BEACH SITES AND ASSESSING TWENTY-SIX COASTAL BEACH AREAS FOR RECREATIONAL WATER QUALITY STANDARDS CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION While this document is primarily focused on the federal regulation surrounding recreational water quality and application of bacterial standards to Oregon beaches; drinking, wastewater, and beach regulation have relevance. This is perhaps most transparent in the events preceding regulation. Holistically, any water legislation pertaining to control of microbial contaminants is applicable to discussion when speaking of the events leading to recreational water quality standards. 1.1