BY THE NUMBERS Water, Water Everywhere Water is often taken for granted, but it's critical to so many factors of life, including recreation. These numbers show the value of water for American recreation and the larger U.S. economy. 61.9 million: $900,285,000: 85: $12 to $18: Number of Americans who visited a beach in 1999. Percentage of U.S. tourism accounted for by coastal states. 30 million: Number of Americans who went fishing in 2006. $42 billion: Amount spent on recreational fishing-related expenditures in 2006. 89.1 million: Number of Americans who went boating for recreation in 2009. $30.8 billion: Amount spent in sales of goods and services reported by the recreational boating industry in 2008. 18,940: Number of boating businesses supported by recreational boating in 2007. 154,300: Number of employees supported by recreational boating in 2007. Source: The Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy Part 1: Background Report (http://water.epa.gov/action/importance ofwater/upload/BackgroundReport-Public-Review-Draft-2.pdf). 64 Parks & Recreation | J U LY 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G Total amount expenditures on waterfowl hunting in 2006. Increased value per lake user of Nevada's Walker Lake for every one-foot increase in lake level. 24,091: Number of " closing and advisory days " at beaches in the U.S. in 2010. -$115,657: Estimated total impact of California's Huntington Beach closing for one day due to contamination issues. $24 billion to $40 billion: Estimated amount of national benefits (in 1990 dollars) of achieving the Clean Water Act's swimmable water quality goal.