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Clean Water Report: Beach Quality Improves In Fairfield County

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. -- Although the waters of Long Island Sound off Fairfield County and all of Connecticut are showing signs of improving, it's not good enough, says the local environmental group Save the Sound. 

Families relax on a bright, sunny day at Weed Beach in Darien. But the beach exceeds the state's daily maximum bacterial standard about 19 percent of the time, according to a recent report.

Families relax on a bright, sunny day at Weed Beach in Darien. But the beach exceeds the state's daily maximum bacterial standard about 19 percent of the time, according to a recent report.

Photo Credit: Casey Donahue, File photo
Beachgoers in Connecticut, like these at Greenwich Point, are seeing improvements in water quality, according to a recent report.

Beachgoers in Connecticut, like these at Greenwich Point, are seeing improvements in water quality, according to a recent report.

Photo Credit: File Photo

After sinking to 26th out of 30 states in last year's report from the National Resources Defense Council on overall swimming-water quality, Connecticut improved to 17th nationwide in this year's report. But at 298 days, it still had more than twice the number of beach closings/advisories as in 2010, 2009, or 2008.

“When it comes to clean water, being ‘middle-of-the-pack’ is not good enough,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound. “One out of every 10 American citizens lives within an hour’s drive of Long Island Sound, and they deserve clean, safe beaches—even one closing because of bacteria and pollution is too many.”

Beach-closing days along Long Island Sound dropped to 298 days in 2012, down from 143 in 2010, according to the report released last week. In previous years, the closing/advisory days totaled 143 days in 2010, 108 days in 2009, and 135 days in 2008.

A total of 8 percent of weekly water samples taken at 72 beaches in Connecticut exceeded national standards in 2012.

The beaches with the highest percent exceedance rates of the daily maximum standard in 2012 were:

  • Pear Tree Point Beach in Darien at 28 percent;
  • Seabluff Beach in West Haven at 28 percent; 
  • Oak Street Beach in West Haven at 20 percent; and
  • Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, Weed Beach in Darien, and Rowayton Beach in Norwalk, all at 19 percent.

Middlesex County had the highest exceedance rate of the daily maximum standard in 2012 at 9 percent, followed by Fairfield County at 9 percent, New Haven County at 7 percent, and New London County at 4 percent. 

According to the report, this is the breakdown of reasons for the beach closures:

  • 148 days, or 50 percent: wildlife
  • 106 day,s or 36 percent: stormwater runoff
  • 23 days, or 8 percent: sewage spills/leaks
  • 21 days, or 7 percent: unknown contamination sources

“Just an inch of rain in 24 hours causes many local health departments around the Sound to shut down beaches," said Schmalz. "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.

"If we want to enjoy our coastline, eat local seafood, and promote tourism along the shore, rain or shine, we have to be proactive. 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.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council releases its “Testing the Waters” report annually. To read the full report on Connecticut, click here

Click here to read about last year's report in The Daily Voice. 

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