The condition of swimming beaches indicator reflects marine water quality conditions in areas heavily used for recreation. This indicator tracks the percent of swimming beaches that pass swimming standards with no more than one exceedance event of the swimming standard during the summer. Swimming beaches not meeting water quality criteria indicate increased risk of people getting sick through gastrointestinal illnesses, respiratory illnesses, and skin infections.

• 92% of the core Puget Sound marine beaches monitored during the 2022 swim season met the recreational water quality criteria.
• The three core beaches which had two or more exceedances of the swimming standard in 2022 were Silverdale Waterfront Park (Kitsap County), Jack Hyde Park (Pierce County), and Larrabee State Park- Wildcat Cove (Whatcom County). There were two additional non-core beaches which failed during the 2022 sampling season- Hollywood Beach (Clallam County) and Little Squalicum Park (Whatcom County).
• Since 2004, soon after the BEACH program started, many local bacteria problems have been identified and corrected. There are still year-to-year fluctuations in marine water quality at swimming beaches, at times attributed to environmental factors such as weather, but many beaches are experiencing water quality improvements due to increased pollution identification work which identifies and corrects chronic issues.