Testing The Waters—Last Year, Connecticut Beaches Were Closed For 298 Days

If you like to go scalloping in the Niantic River or Jordan Cove, then you know after every heavy rain, the shellfishing areas are routinely closed. Local waters are tested weekly by Ledge Light Health District. Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is responsible for testing the water at state parks. 

So far this season, there have been no closures at Rocky Neck State Park but this week, Black Rock Lake in Watertown was closed due to elevated bacteria levels. The two big concerns are enterococcal organism, which lives in salt water, and E. coli, which lives in fresh water. Elevated levels of either will prompt the closing of beaches and lakes. 

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s annual “Testing the Waters” report found that Connecticut beaches were closed or were issued health advisories for 298 days in 2012. That's down from 538 in 2011 but still more than twice the number of closings/advisories in 2010, 2009, or 2008. 

The report analyzes beach closure and advisory statistics from beaches around the United States. Connecticut ranked 17th out of the 30 states listed. 

“Just an inch of rain in 24 hours causes many local health departments around the Sound to shut down beaches. Drought conditions may provide the perfect beach weather—no rain means no contamination from stormwater runoff—but we can’t rely on Mother Nature to do our pollution control for us," said Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment. 

"If we want to enjoy our coastline, eat local seafood, and promote tourism along the shore, rain or shine, we have to be proactive," Schmalz said. "That means stopping pollution at the source by upgrading our sewage treatment plants, separating the combined sewer overflows that dump almost two billion gallons of untreated sewage into our waterways each year, and investing in innovative stormwater runoff solutions like drain filters and green infrastructure.”

According to the report, 22 percent of Connecticut’s closing/advisory days last year were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels and 29 percent were preemptive due to heavy rainfall, which can overwhelm outdated stormwater systems and wash untreated sewage into rivers and the Sound. The remaining days were preemptive due to wildlife.

“Connecticut made strides on reducing water pollution this year," Schmalz said. "Governor Malloy proposed, and the state legislature passed, strong funding for the Clean Water Fund, which will help stop the sewer overflows that send dangerous bacteria into our waters. Public Act 13-15 lets the state take sea level rise into account when deciding how to distribute Clean Water funding and where to build future wastewater treatment plants. That’s going to be crucially important as we continue to deal with the effects of climate change, like the storm surges, heavy rains, and power outages that affected sewage treatment plants around the Sound during Irene and Sandy.”