Program Overview
The Minnesota Lake Superior Beach Monitoring Program is based in the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) Northeast District Office in Duluth. Funding for this program comes from the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act, passed in October of 2000 as an amendment to the Clean Water Act. Results from monitoring are reported annually to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and can be found here along with results from other states and tribes that receive BEACH Act funds.
Sampling Frequency
Minnesota has 79 public beaches along its Lake Superior coast, 38 of which are monitored for bacteria. Samples are collected from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Beaches are classified into “tiers” that determine how often they are tested.
- Tier 1 beaches are very popular and are tested at least twice a week.
- Tier 2 beaches are used a moderate amount and are tested at least once a week.
- Tier 3 beaches are used less often, are harder to access, and have few nearby pollution sources, so they are not tested
Beach Advisories
A beach advisory is posted when monitoring results indicate an increased risk of getting sick from swimming or wading.
The Minnesota Lake Superior Beach Monitoring Program issues a beach advisory when:
- A single water sample exceeds an E. coli count of 235 organisms per 100 milliliters, or
- The geometric mean of E. coli counts from 5 water samples collected during a 30-day period exceeds 126 organisms per 100 milliliters, or
Beaches are tested daily Monday-Thursday until results indicate the advisory can be removed.